Love or Hate: The Tale of Red Snitch
by Liz J. Wylde
Summary: Lily hates James. James loves Lily. So nothing could be worse for Lily and better for James when they become Head Girl & Boy. Romance, comedy and crises mixed together in the LJ fanfic. Best fic so far... PLEASE READ & REVIEW!
1. Party time

Author's Note: Hello all! I'm back again! Yes, with the same story, I don't know why it was deleted…(Oh and by the way, if you don't get the "Red Snitch" bit, I'll change it. I had real trouble finding a suitable title. What it means is, James symbolizes the "snitch" bit, and Lily's a redhead, which is the "red" bit. Sorry if you didn't get it…) NB This chapter has now been edited and is very different!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Or his parents.

**Love or Hate: **

**The Tale of Red Snitch **

Chapter One- Party Time

Lily looked around the busy platform. A few metres away from her stood a group of Ravenclaws already in their Hogwarts robes, talking. By them stood some second-year Hufflepuffs eagerly catching up on what their friends did in the summer holidays. Parents were dashing around frantically with their children, looking for responsible adults with whom they could place their little darlings with during the journey. And leaning lazily against the train was Lucius Malfoy with his "acquaintances"—that is, sidekicks. Searching for familiar faces, Lily's eyes rested upon a group of Gryffindor boys in her year—Frank Longbottom, Terence Jones, and of course the famous "Marauders" Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and… James Potter. Yes, the boy who was so annoyingly arrogant and conceited… How Lily despised him. Funnily enough, he never seemed to realize this and consistently asked her out—unsuccessfully, of course.

"Boo!" came a voice from behind Lily, interrupting her train of thoughts and making her jump.

"Oh, hi Marlene!" laughed Lily.

"Hi Lily!" said her old friend brightly, obviously happy to see her. "How're you? How were your holidays?"

"Not too bad, actually," Lily answered nonchalantly. "Yours?"

"Fine, apart from an encounter with a gross and spectacularly ugly sea slug—I'll tell you the story later. Anyway, where's Alice?"

"Dunno, haven't seen her yet," replied Lily—but they didn't have to wait long. A few seconds later, through the crowd came no other than the dark-haired, blue-eyed Alice herself. "Hey!"

"Hi!"

A loud horn sounded, and the three made their way to the scarlet train.

"Anyone seen Victoria or Rosmerta?" asked Marlene once they had found a suitable (that is, empty) compartment.

"Victoria and Rosmerta are together, naturally, chatting up some Ravenclaw boys," said Alice. "I passed them on my way to you two."

"Typical," laughed Marlene, rolling her eyes.

"Well no matter. We'll catch them up later," shrugged Lily as she shoved her small trunk to the far corner of the compartment.

"How come your trunk is so small, Lily?" asked Marlene in disbelief. "I can't live without my two big ones, and still it seems I never have enough stuff!"

"We went camping in France for a few weeks, and I've learned that you don't need material objects to have fun," explained the redhead, sticking her tongue out. "Unlike some people."

"Hey, you did not just--"

"I went to Austria," Alice interrupted Marlene. "It was really nice."

"I bet your holiday wasn't as nice as mine," boasted Marlene childishly, apparently having forgotten to be mad at Lily. "I bet _you_ weren't rescued by a love god!"

Lily laughed and immediately the three of them began to chat and catch up on what they'd missed during the holidays.

At last, the subject of school arrived.

"Guess what?" said Lily excitedly. She had been meaning to tell them this before, but forgotten it when Marlene had told them about the sea slug (which involved falling into a lake, being picked up by the handsome young man, then chased by the sea slug… except with more horrific details).

"What?" chorused her two friends.

"I'm Head Girl!" she blurted out.

"Wow! Congratulations!"

"Cool! I knew you'd make it, Lily."

"I wonder who the Head Boy is…"

"Good point," said Lily thoughtfully. "I haven't spared that much thought yet."

"Bet it's Ja—I mean, Potter," said Marlene, hastily when Lily glared at her—she hated her friends calling James by his first name. Or as she said, "treating the disgusting bighead as if he actually had a brain and feelings".

"Get real! No, it'll be that Samuel Harding, he got a 'special services to the school' award and most of the teachers like him, that stupid Hufflepuff…"

"Probably Lupin," suggested Lily reasonably. "I mean, he _is _the Gryffindor prefect and Dumbledore trusts him and all that…"

"Hang on…" said Marlene, "I know! It'll be Frank!"

Alice suddenly blushed at the sound of Frank's name.

"Oh yeah, I forgot, you are going out with him, aren't you?" said Marlene loudly. Lily grinned—Marlene always knew how to wind people up.

"Shut up," muttered Alice.

"What didya say? I'm afraid I can't hear very well," joked Marlene.

"Oh, shut it."

"I beg your pardon!"

"Just SHUT UP!"

"Now, now," came a boy's voice from the door of the compartment. James Potter's voice, to be exact.

"Get out Potter," snapped Lily, sharply.

"Evans?" James's head jerked to her direction. However, (thankfully) by now he had abandoned his hobby of messing up his hair whenever he was near Lily. "Hello, Ev--"

"What are you doing here?" demanded Marlene, interrupting him.

"Well, I was just walking by when I thought I would pop in for a friendly chat," explained James, flashing Lily a smile. She looked away, avoiding him.

"You mean you wanted to annoy us?"

"Not annoy, McKinnon, just greet."

"Greet with a hex, yeah," muttered Lily. "Just go away, will you?"

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," said James quickly. "Please… if you come with me to Hogsmeade, I won't ever annoy you three again."

"The day I go out with you is the day I'll go out with Snape,"said Lily, hoping that by bringing Snape, James's enemy, into the conversation, James would get the picture and back down. "Never."

James stiffened, affected by Lily's threat. But not one to retreat, he adopted the puppy-dog-eyes expression. "Evans, please…"

"No!" shouted Lily. "NO. Now will you go away please? I'm trying to have a conversation with my friends."

James turned away and was just about to leave when something silver caught his eye.

"Didn't you hear what she said?" snarled Marlene. "Because I'm pretty sure we just asked you to leave."

James ignored her. Still staring at Lily, he said, "You're… Head Girl?"

"What's it to you?" snapped Lily. Why did he want to know?

James didn't reply, but cast a look at his robes. There, in addition to his old Quidditch Captain's badge that he had acquired in his fourth year, was a brand-new silver badge sporting the letters 'HB'.

Lily gasped. This couldn't be right. Nobody in their right mind could make the infamous trouble-making idiot James Potter the Head Boy. No way. It just wasn't on. "You… _you're… Head Boy_?!"

"Yeah," said James, trying to sound casual, but it was obvious that he was pleased with himself.

"Told you," murmured Marlene under her breath to Lily, who elbowed her.

"But you weren't even a prefect!" she exploded. "I mean, wasn't Remus lined up for Head Boy?"

"Well, Remus _was_ going to get the job," admitted James, "but then I was chosen instead."

"Dumbledore chose _James _over Remus?" hissed Lily to Marlene. "Is he _insane_?"

"Probably," muttered Marlene, raising a carefully-plucked eyebrow at James.

"I know," said James loudly, "let's go to my compartment to celebrate!"

Lily looked at him blankly. What was he on about? "What?"

"Us being Head Boy and Girl!" boasted James, as if it was obvious that it was a cause for celebration."Come on, this way!" He gestured them to follow him out of the compartment. But before Lily could refuse, Alice had already stood up, and Marlene was tugging at Lily's arm.

"He's mad! What's so great about having to do stuff with _him _all year?" whispered Lily as they made their way to the boys' compartment.

Instead of replying, however, Alice put a finger to her lips. Lily shot her a puzzled look, and Alice nodded her head towards the compartment that James had just entered. His loud voice entered the corridor as they heard him speak to his friends.

"Hello, I'm back! Listen, I have a little surprise for you lot…" He seized the three girls and dragged them into the compartment, where not only the four Marauders were, but Frank Longbottom, Terry Jones and a Hufflepuff boy Lily recognized as troublemaker Jerome Longley.

There was silence.

"Err… hey," said Marlene awkwardly. "Uh… I think we better… go…" She made a movement towards the door, but Sirius said "Nonsense!" and pulled her back in again.

After some more silence, Frank began to talk and within seconds the cramped (and mostly male-dominated) compartment was filled with voices. Marlene was chatting to Sirius, Alice was sitting with Frank and was sharing a very non-verbal conversation, Lily was discussing the subject of wizarding zoos with Remus, Peter and Terry, and James had gone to fetch more people with Jerome. Despite her disliking of James and disapproving of Jerome (his pranks were nearly as bad as the Marauders', except he wasn't as imaginative as them and didn't have many good ideas, meaning that he mainly resorted to doing things like leaving leeches in people's dormitories, which thoroughly disgusted her), Lily was reasonably enjoying herself.

A few minutes later, James and Jerome returned, accompanied by Melanie Hagues, a pretty but shy Hufflepuff in the year below them; Victoria and Rosmerta, who shared Marlene, Alice and Lily's dormitory; and third-year Ravenclaw Amy Delvins, who was supposed to be highly intelligent and have smuggled a dozen boxes of banned goods into the school, and have given one of them to the Marauders (later proved by Sirius, who let off three pocket fireworks as well as whizzing confetti and the wizarding version of Silly String, which glowed and sizzled when touched).

"It's getting a bit crowded in here," announced Sirius (stating the obvious), "so who wants beanbags to sit on the floor with?"

With a few shouts of "Me!" Sirius conjured up some beanbags ("_Sessiosive!_"and plonked himself on the one nearest to him.

After applauding Sirius on his magic (more like his looks), Victoria and Rosmerta began chatting animatedly to Terry and Jerome. Melanie sidled up to Peter, and Amy took Lily's place in the discussion of wizarding zoos with Remus, which left Lily thoroughly disgruntled and with nobody to talk to—at least, that's what she thought, until she spotted James grinning at her. _Oh great_, she thought.

"Hey…" he said. "Are you enjoying the party?"

"Yes, it's quite good," replied Lily stiffly, "but it's a bit squashed."

It was true; there was hardly enough room to sit down, but it did help that Sirius had summoned the beanbags.

"The more the merrier, I always say," said James airily. "Anyway, you can't deny it's a nice atmosphere when there are loads of people around."

"Not if you're claustrophobic," challenged Lily, being difficult.

There was a short, awkward pause, and then James asked, "So how was your summer?"

"Oh, it was good," said Lily, not really looking at him, but at the trunk to the side that read 'RJ Lupin'. "We went to France for a week."

"Hmmm," murmured James. "I've been there. They've got loads of pixies there, haven't they? Even some of the Muggles know about them, but thankfully not everyone's gullible, so they don't bother investigating further."

"Yes, the pixies are OK," agreed Lily in a non-committal way. "Not a bit like those Cornish pixies Professor Kettleburn showed us a few years ago."

"Oh yes, I remember," said James, smiling, "Annoying little things, went everywhere, didn't they?"

"Yes."

There was another pause.

"Well, everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, don't they?" said James pleasantly. "Shame, we're all going to have to get changed into the school robes now."

Lily peered out of the window to see that the sky had darkened immensely and the Hogwarts castle was distantly in view, confirming James's suspicions.

"Yeah," she said, "we'd better get going."

James opened his mouth as if he was going to say something important, but shook his head and said, "Go on then."

--xXx--

"That party was great!" Victoria said enthusiastically in the dormitories once they'd arrived at Hogwarts, enjoyed the feast, endured the Sorting, and (in Lily's case) been given a lecture from Professor McGonagall about Head Girl duties and have been shown the Head Girl dormitory and common room. "I really enjoyed it."

"Yeah," agreed Alice. "We should have another one sometime."

"Uh-huh," Rosmerta said, "I'm really in the party mood today. I just feel the need to have some fun now, while we remain safe from the teachers and lessons."

"Easy for you to say," muttered Lily, thinking of the speech McGonagall had made to her about responsibility, but nobody seemed to have heard her.

"Hang on…" said Marlene. "I know! Let's have a sleepover party, here!"

"No way!" said Lily incredulously, but no-one was listening to her; they were all too busy discussing what games they should play.

"Yeah, 'dare' is good," said Victoria, "So we've got that first, then the midnight feast (at midnight, obviously), then Marly can tell her tale about the sea slug, then ghost-story telling, then--"

"For Merlin's sake, we're _seventeen_!" said Lily through gritted teeth.

"Aww, come on Lils, join in!" Victoria said, but using Lily's child name just made her receive a sharp glare.

"No thanks," said Lily coolly, "I have better things to do than play childish games." She took out a fiction book from her bag and began to read it.

"Oh, yeah, when we play 'dare' we could make Lily to kiss James when it's her turn!" suggested Rosmerta excitedly.

"Grrrrr!" growled Lily, burying her head under the pillow.

_**End of Chapter Une!**_


	2. A quill can get so far

Author's Note: First of all, before saying hi, I must hide behind a cushion and cover my face. Why? Because (as I'm sure some of you know) I have not updated for about half a year. Hmmm. Which, to be honest, I am _not _that pleased about… and nor, I guess, are you. But anyways let's just ignore that and all say HI! I've missed you guys! Honestly, I have! (Oh yes and may I just say, I know the perspective and POV's jump around a lot, but it's just to see everyone's thoughts. And I will put Lily and Jame's POVs in too!) Well, anywho, I'm NOT very pleased to say that you haven't reviewed much at all. HMMMM. (Hee…) So I must as you to **please Read & Review **this story immediately once you have finished the chapter (or the story, for that matter). But, don't worry, I will begin to write stuff again. I think. So… see you! (Until the end of the chapter) Now be good boys and girls and have fun! Byebyes, XxHellzAngelxX xxx

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter…

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Two: A quill can get so far…

The next morning, Lily woke up early. After finishing her copy of Jane Austen's _Pride and Prejudice, _visiting the Head common room that McGonagall had shown her and James the previous night, getting bored and going back to Gryffindor Tower again, it was still half an hour before the time which she usually got up at.

In the end, she decided to make a list of the events (and fulfilling her duty as Head Girl) that could take place during the year. However, she got only as far as writing down three ideas before she was interrupted by no other than the Head Boy himself, tousle-haired and yawning.

"Good morning, Evans."

"Morning, Potter," replied Lily in a brisk, business-like tone that reminded even herself of Professor McGonagall.

"What are you doing there?" asked James curiously as he looked at Lily's short list.

"Putting down what events we could organize this year. Actually-" Lily stopped abruptly, "you could help me."

"I could?" said James, incredulously. Usually Lily wouldn't let James near anything important, never mind let him _help_.

"Yes. Grab a quill and come here."

James obeyed, then began to read Lily's list.

"Hallowe'en ball… Christmas ball… inter-house song competition…" James looked up at her. "_Inter-house song competition?_"

"Yes," mumbled Lily, blushing slightly, "I thought, you know, House songs to sing at Quidditch matches and things…"

"Oh, right," said James. "How about we do more trips and things, though? I mean, we've been stuck here for seven years and all we've ever explored is the castle grounds and Hogsmeade."

"Yeah… Maybe we could organize trips during the Christmas holidays, for the people who stay at school… We'd have to ask the Headmaster, though."

"Yeah, yeah," said James, waving a hand, "that won't be a problem. Turn on the old charm and they'll be running around after us. Where to, though? I was thinking perhaps Greenland or somewhere like France, where they have modern celebrations, and believe in Santa Claus-"

"France! That's it, I've got it!" said Lily excitedly. James blinked.

"We could have foreign exchange trips with Beauxbatons!" she went on. "I think they've got holidays a similar time to us… I'd have to ask McGonagall, though…"

James stared at her. "I don't speak French."

Lily's face dropped. "Aah… that might be a problem…" She paused for a while, deep in thought, then- "We could have a French course for people who want to go!" she suggested brightly.

James put his head in his hands. "You always have to think of everything, don't you?"

Lily was puzzled. "Don't you want to go to France? Surely you do!"

James looked slightly uneasy.

"Well, I have this older cousin Louisa, who goes to Beauxbatons. Once, when her family was round –a few years ago, mind- I, uh, embarrassed her a little bit—well, a lot—and, err, she's told everyone about it, and that includes her friends…"

Lily appeared to be thinking hard. "How much older than you is she?" she suddenly asked.

"Dunno, a few years." He shrugged. "Why?"

"Because," replied Lily, a smirk playing on her lips, "she won't be there any more, will she? She'll have left by now!"

James's eyes brightened up and he put a hand to his forehead. "Well, I don't see a problem then," he smiled.

"Okay, but if we want to present your idea to McGonagall, we need to come across as professional and organized. So, that includes the cost accounted for, transport, time we spend there…"

James faked a yawn and leaned back in his chair, how Sirius did in lessons. He stretched his arms, and while doing so, his quill brushed Lily's cheek.

Lily let out an uncharacteristic giggle. "Sorry, I'm just I'm really ticklish!"

James grinned. "So am I!" He tickled Lily's neck with his quill again.

"Why you--" Lily began, but without conviction. She grabbed her own quill and began to tickle James too.

"Ah!" cried James as the chair fell backwards onto the floor. This just made Lily laugh harder and she bent down to tickle him again.

"Gosh, Prongs, I thought that it was you that was eager to get your hands on _her_, not the other way round!" boomed a voice. Both Lily and James stopped and looked towards the staircase that led to the dormitories to see the culprit, otherwise known as Sirius Black, standing.

Lily's face burned. "All we did was tickle each other!" she protested heatedly, though she even admitted inwardly to herself that she sounded childish.

"Yeah, leave her alone," snapped James, to which Lily was taken aback.

"Ooh, getting touchy, are we?" Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, go away!" snarled Lily, her eyes flashing with fury. This was _not _her idea of a good start to the morning. How much she'd give to be out of here…

"Come on, all he did was--" began James, but was cut off by Lily.

"You leave me alone too!" she snapped. She backed away and whirled round to exit the Gryffindor Tower.

There was an awkward silence in the Common Room. The only thing interrupting the quietness was the old grandfather clock that stood in the corner of the room, tick tick ticking away the seconds.

Eventually Sirius said apologetically, "Sorry, mate. I didn't mean to mess it all up for you." _And I didn't know that Evans was so damn touchy, either, _he added silently.

James sighed sadly. Those few moments before were the only when he and Lily were together without the rest of the school there, and having _fun._

"I don't think I had a chance anyway," he murmured mournfully, gazing at the spot where Lily had last been.

"She probably loves you underneath," said Sirius, but unconvincingly. "Perhaps she even keeps a photo of you under her pillow or something!"

"No," said James flatly. Any emotion he had been showing in his expression seemed to have evaporated. "No, she hates me. How I could have imagined she liked me back, I—well, it's impossible, it just is."

Sirius looked down guiltily. There was so much sorrow in his old friend's voice, but he wasn't the type to cheer someone up. What could he do? He knew that James would never be complete without Lily. The only way to get Lily to understand would be to talk to her about how James only acted immaturely to get her attention, how he _loved _her, how he had had to live for so long, thinking everyday about her and knowing she didn't feel the same way about him. Unless she did…

But anyway, Sirius had to do something. Now the only problem was what. He couldn't talk to Lily. Couldn't he? Perhaps. She probably wouldn't listen, but it would be worth a try just for the possibility of it working. Just to see James as happy as when he and Lily got on would be worth it.

_I'll do it later, lunchtime maybe,_ thought Sirius, always the one to procrastinate.

Suddenly the quietness and air of greyness in the room was disturbed by a bunch of rowdy and noisy second-years that were making their way down to the Common Room.

"I can't wait till the tryouts for the Quidditch team," said a tall boy with mouse-brown hair enthusiastically. "I think I'm gonna get lucky."

"You do, do you?" Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Well, I guess you'd better put on a pretty good performance for James here."

"What has _he _got to do with it?" said another boy with blonde hair, cockily. "What's so special about him?"

"I'm the Gryffindor Quidditch captain," explained James wearily.

"Oh. Well, uh, sorry about that…" the blonde boy dropped any signs of cockiness.

"Come on, guys, we got to go," a third boy yawned.

"Okay, okay," muttered the tall boy and they all left the Common Room.

"Bunch of cheeky buggars," chuckled Sirius, an expression of amusement on his face. "See that idiot? He was really rude then suddenly he was drooling all over you!"

"Oh, shut up," James snapped, looking away. "He wasn't that rude."

Sirius thought about saying, "See, you ARE really touchy, aren't you?" but thought better of it. Instead, he muttered, "Sorry."

At least this didn't make James angrier. On the contrary, he pulled a weak smile and said, "Women, eh?" (He his mind was still on Lily and her sudden departure.)

Sirius, delighted that James was at least beginning to shut up, clapped him on the back. "You bet. Half of them aren't worth the trouble."

James grinned. "How much is half?"

"Uh… Evangeline, you know her… Jade Gardner, Samantha McHull… Deborah Goody…"

"Sirius Black!" exclaimed a voice. "How dare you be such a sexist!"

"Oh hello, Victoria," replied Sirius smoothly, his expression having changed from amused to flirtatious. He liked Victoria a bit and she liked him back and Victoria was a flirt and so was Sirius, so in a sense they would be good together, but Victoria didn't quite have Sirius's elegance.

Victoria sidled past the two boys, gave a little wave, and left the Gryffindor Tower. Yet again there was a silence in the common room, but this time it wasn't so awkward.

"Hey… isn't it time Moony and Wormtail got up?" smirked Sirius, a glint of mischief in his eye.

"Very true… but perhaps they might require a little help…" said James, playing along.

"Spoke my mind," grinned Sirius and their faces both cracked into identical evil grins.

Then, as quietly as they could, they crept up the staircase to the seventh years' boys dormitories. They then stationed themselves beside Remus and Peter's four-poster beds and slowly slid the pillows from beneath the sleeping boys' heads.

"One… two… three!" whispered Sirius and he and James began to bash Remus and Peter with the pillows. When nothing happened, James counted to three again and they whacked them harder, and stopped when Remus woke up. "Aaaargh," he groaned, without opening his eyes.

"Quick! Run!" hissed James, and they sprinted back down to the Common Room, where they burst into laughter.

"Fantastic! Good work, Prongs. I think, though, we shall have to perfect our technique. Perhaps we could make some water bombs and drop them right on their faces! That would be really easy—all we'd have to do is get some balloons and fill them with water and use _Wingardium Leviosa _to levitate it above their faces—what's up, Prongs?"

James looked away. "Nothing," he lied.

"Evans on your mind, is she? Oh, cheer up. She'll get over it."

James shook his head sadly.

Sirius, now desperate, said, "Oh, come on. She talked to you on the train, didn't she? She likes you, I know she does."

"No she doesn't. She hates me."

"Oh, Prongs!" sighed Sirius exasperatedly. "Have some optimism! Cheer up!"

But James only ignored him.

"Listen, you just need to tell her how you feel! You love her, don't you? And anyway, what have you got to lose?"

"She'll hate me even more," muttered James dully. "It's not worth it."

Sirius was just about to speak when a noise sounded from the top of the boys' staircase.

"Oh, _hello_, Sirius, James," said a tight-lipped Remus through gritted teeth. "I _thought_ I might find you here…"

"Dammit…" muttered Sirius.

"Let's run for it," suggested James quietly into Sirius's ear, so Sirius gave James a conspiratorial wink and a few seconds later, they were gone.

"Sucker!" laughed Sirius as they ran.

"We got them!" agreed James, and they high-fived each other.

_**End of Chapter Deux!**_

**Ultra Special Blah Blah Blah 2: **Hurray! It's finally done! (Chapter two, I mean…) You know, it took up around five pages on Word!


	3. Dispute

Author's Note: UPDATED. V DIFFERENT FROM HOW IT WAS. Please Read & Review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Hogwarts, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, etc etc etc.

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Three: Dispute

A week had passed and still Sirius hadn't talked to Lily. As a result—or so he thought—Lily had been avoiding not only him but James too. Yet, despite this, he hadn't even prepared himself for what he was going to say. Sirius knew he should, because as each day went by James became more and more discontent. Sirius remembered a time when he went out with a girl called Florence. She had been stunning—black hair down to her waist, sparkling eyes, funny, charming. He liked her and she liked him, but he never got round to writing her a letter and in the end, that was the reason she broke up with him. But then again, what could you have expected of Sirius Black? So he decided he would have to tell Lily, about how James loved her. How he truly loved her. How his moods changed according to the way she acted, how James tried so hard to impress her. Because although Sirius knew that he might never be able to understand why or in what way James loved Lily—and it really was love, he was sure of that—he knew that it would mean the world, or more, to his best friend if he was the one to get the pair together. But then again, it had already been seven years… if they were destined to be together, why had it not yet happened? _They need help,_ thought Sirius, _they need my help._ And that's what he wanted to do—help, for once.

-xXx-

"Listen! OY! Evans!"

Lily woke up with a start. She sat up and put her duvet to one side before she got up, stretched and climbed out of her bed. Normally she would open the curtains and make up her bed too, but the urgency in Sirius Black's voice was just too poignant to ignore.

"What?" she called, curiously yet at the same time sleepily. After all, she had just got up.

"Could you, erm, please come down here? Like, now?" replied Sirius with as much etiquette as he could muster.

Lily raised her eyebrows and, grabbing a dressing gown on the way, hurried down to the landing where Sirius was impatiently waiting.

"Yes?"

"We, um, need to talk. About James. And you. But mostly James. And it's not exactly for the others to hear," Sirius blurted. How could he say this, he wondered, without the situation having an awkward atmosphere? It seemed kind of impossible, But he would have to try. For James he would try. Seeing Lily's look of impatience, he quickly added, "But before you go off in a huff or make any remarks—I'm only doing this for the best."

Lily raised her eyebrows again. For goodness' sake, what was the boy on about? "Interfering in other people's business? Yeah, sure it's for the best," –he opened his mouth to speak—"but I'll hear you out anyway."

Sirius let out a sigh of relief. He looked around, then at her again. "Well, as you know, James… likes you."

Lily rolled her eyes. She even made a point of looking at her watch (which she had forgotten to take off the night before, so it happens), as Sirius struggled to get his words out.

"And you don't really like him back."

This time Lily opened her mouth to speak, but Sirius just continued. "Yes, I know, I know, he's big-headed, he's selfish, he's conceited… I've heard it all before. Anyway," he said, clearing his throat as she looked as if she was going to interrupt again, "he's been quite down lately and I thought that if I told you he loves you, you might go and talk to him or something."

"What?"

"Well, y'know, so that you would understand--"

"Understand."

"That's right, understand that James likes you."

"So you came _here _to tell _me_ some made-up mumbo-jumbo about how James--"

"Huh?"

"Oh, I get it," snarled Lily, her face hardening. "So you thought that if you told me he loved me, I'd go crying at his feet? Black, how you manage to survive with your so-called cunning plans is beyond me."

"What? What do you mean?" Sirius demanded, wounded.

"Come off it," snapped Lily. "You're a thief and a liar, Sirius Black."

"Hey, hey, getting a bit harsh here, aren't we? I mean, what have I stolen?"

Lily, who had been on her way back to the girls' dormitories, whirled around.

"You stole the integrity of people around you—and that should be enough!"

"What are you on about?" yelled Sirius, but Lily had already gone—leaving him alone, angry and confused.

_**End of Chapter Trois!**_

A/N: Again, this may not have made sense… Might be explained next chapter… Sorry for its being rubbish, remember I wrote this aggggges ago. Please Read and Review.


	4. A misunderstanding

Author's Note: I've just uploaded chappie three, and I've realized just how short it is, so apologies folks. I mean, it took up five pages in my notebook! The again, the first chapter which is like three times longer took up thirteen. Ah well. **Please Read and Review!** Lov y'all, XxHellzAngelxX

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, general ideas, etc. Anyways Harry Potter ain't mine!

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Four: A misunderstanding

"…And then, right, she turned her back on me and called me a thief and a liar!"

"But you haven't stolen anything," exclaimed Frank.

"Sure he--" began James sarcastically, but he was elbowed by Rermus before he could complete his sentence.

"I know!" continued Sirius, who apparently hadn't heard James, "I mean, one minute I'm trying to do a good deed, and the next I have her screeching at me! It's always like this. Women!"

"Hey, since when have you done good deeds?" laughed James.

"I think he might not have copied me once in our second year…" responded Remus, humouring him. "Or no, was that not our first year?"

"Really, was it that recently?" This was from Peter, who had decided to join in the teasing.

Frank, always one to be serious, turned to them. "Leave him alone," he scolded.

"Yeah, leave me alone," added Sirius, but with a grin on his face so typical that they could tell he was about to laugh.

James made a face.

"Prongs, I have no idea why you like her," said Sirius, switching back to the initial subject, "but by all means make the best of it. She's available, she's pretty and she's a challenge… go and get her!"

All four of the other boys turned to stare at Sirius.

"Have you been reading Victoria's _Glamour_ magazine again?" spluttered James.

"Just ignore me," muttered Sirius

-xXx-

"…And then, right, he admitted he would lie to me!" moaned Lily, her head in her hands. "I mean, aren't I supposed to be respected!"

"Boys," tutted Marlene. "There there, he'll get over himself one day."

"Only you would have to wait twenty years first!" added Alice.

Victoria, who had been arranging her clothes (more like listening in), butted into the conversation. "At least he told you first, though," she reasoned. "Isn't that respecting you?"

"No," replied Lily.

Alice and Marlene rolled their eyes.

"But here's the worst thing: _I _was about to admit to him that I liked James!"

Victoria let go of the pair of trousers she had been holding.

Alice stared at Lily.

Marlene's jaw dropped.

"Well, he isn't actually that bad any more," Lily nervously said. "He's reasonable, he's not too mischievous, he's even quite nice if you think about it…. What wrong with that?"

"'Not too mischievous'… Yeah, right!" scoffed Marlene, but when she saw the look on Lily's face, she said, "I mean, yeah. You're right. Of course."

Victoria, however, still hadn't recovered. "You mean you like, _fancy_, James? I thought you hated him!"

"It's been a long time since I hated him," replied Lily, gazing out of the dormitory window. "And anyway it's not the I'm-going-to-make-a-move-on-him kind of fancying. I just appreciate him as a friend… and a bit more."

Marlene looked sceptically at her friend. "Ok, so _that's_ why you've been avoiding him all week."

Lily shook her head. "Things are complicated and awkward and never really work out. He probably doesn't even like me any more." She shrugged.

"Nonsense! Of course he does," Alice reassured her hurriedly. "He just respects your point of view a bit more. That's why he hasn't asked you out since last week."

Lily let out a sigh. "I hope you're right."

Alice went over to the window, also gazing out onto the grounds. "So do I."

_**End of Chapter Quatre!**_

**Ultra Special Blah Blah Blah 4: **Sorry for chapters three and four being so short, but I really needed to get a move on and I don't want to just write loads for the sake of it, rather than for the story's progress.

Hope you enjoyed it. I certainly liked playing around with the characters anyway… please read and review!


	5. A plan

Author's Note: Yet another short chapter! Sorry. I did try to make it a little longer. Okay, it's also not that in character and actually not that good, but who cares? It helps the plot along. –Evil laugh— yes, my love on CONFLICT comes in here. Oh, what I've got planned… Mwahaha… See yas, XxHellzAngelxX

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (or _The Simpsons _or _SpongeBob SquarePants_).

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Five: A Plan

"You mean to say it's… _true_?" said a surprised Lily in disbelief.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Duh. Hell, Evans, if I wanted to make you angry, I would've gone about it in a different way. You've seen the victims. Believe me."

Lily slowly exhaled. "I think that, just this once, I will."

A wide grin spread across Sirius's face. "Good, good. Well, I'll be off then. Breakfast awaits. See you."

"See you," called Lily to his retreating back. She closed her eyes for a moment, then snapped them open, a smile on her face. With a deep breath, she set off in the opposite direction to find her friends. However, she didn't have to look long as, as soon as she turned the corner she found a grinning Marlene.

"Let me guess… you've been listening in to our entire conversation all this time?"

"You guessed right," replied Marlene. "But you have to agree that it is quite important to deliberately overhear one of your best friends fraternising with the nest mate of her future boyfriend!"

"Sure it is," said a sarcastic Lily, opening a door as they passed through the corridor. "Only the 'future boyfriend' might not be her future boyfriend at all."

"You mean to say he's your _current_ boyfriend?" gasped Marlene.

"No, I meant that he still hasn't asked me out," said Lily briskly, wiping the smirk off her friend's face.

"D'oh!"

"Did you by any chance get that expression from a rather childish Muggle television programme called _The Simpsons_?"

"Uh… yeah…" Marlene looked slightly sheepish. "But don't change the subject!"

"Too late. Do you watch that even more childish and stupid cartoon, _SpongeBob SquarePants_, as well?"

"hey, it's not that bad," Marlene defended, stung. "It's quite good actually."

Despite having changed the subject, Lily's thoughts were still on Sirius and James. Did James like her, still? Was Sirius up to something? She wouldn't put it past him. Was she right to have told her friends about her growing passion—no, not passion, admiration rather—of James? Could she trust them not to pass the information on?

-xXx-

"But she swore you to secrecy!"

"Yeah, yeah. But just think about it: This gossip is so toxic that even the teachers will be shocked by it!"

"If you say so."

"I do. Oh and if we do tell Potter, then he'll be really happy and ask her out and they'll both be happy and we will never be the recipients of the Marauders' practical jokes ever again!"

"Hmm."

"Okay, shh now. Let's go."

The two figures crept as quietly as they could up the stone steps. Pushing the heavy door that was in front of them open, they stepped into the seventh year boys' dorms.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" yelped Remus, grabbing a shirt to cover his torso.

"This is the _boys_' dormitory," said Frank Longbottom pointedly.

"Yeah, and wouldn't you just love it if Alice sneaked in here," replied Rosmerta, and with some satisfaction she watched the colour in Frank's cheeks rise.

"So? We never come in your dorms," argued Terence Jones.

"That's 'cause you can't," pointed out Victoria, sticking her tongue out.

"Anyway," said James loudly, "what's the occasion?"

Rosmerta's head jerked in his direction. She didn't particularly fancy James, but she did think he was exceedingly good-looking, and as he, unlike Remus, hadn't had the decency to cover his currently shirtless body, she couldn't help but gape.

"Well," began Victoria, choosing her words carefully and adopting a neutral tone, "we were in our dormitory when Lily burst in, angry. So we asked why she was upset and she explained about the whole mix-up with Sirius, beg my pardon, Black, thing."

"Go on…"

"And she said that the worst part was that she was about to admit her feelings… about you." She indicated to James.

"Yeah, I know, she hates me. Just rub it in, why don't you? Tell you what, I hate her too. Go on and say that to her. Go on."

The two girls stood frozen, speechless. This was definitely not how they had planned telling James that Lily liked him back. Or rather, Lily liked him.

"Oh dear," said Victoria when they reached the safety of the girls' dorms again (Lily, Marlene and Alice thankfully not present at the time). "Now we are graced with a problem."

"And one we can't solve," added Rosmerta wistfully.

"Uh-huh. Actually… you know how, in _Witch Weekly_, there was that article, _How to get a wizard to fall in love with you in 10 days_?"

"Yeah. It was written by that girl from Ravenclaw, Sonia Rambrick, or whatever her name is. But you're not suggesting…"

"You bet I am. Come on, we can pull it off. All we have to do is ask this Sonia girl for some tips and then we'll casually drop hints to Lily. And then she and James can get together at last!"

Rosmerta stared at her friend. Victoria stared right back.

"We could," whispered Rosmerta at last, "I mean, we've got nothing to lose."

"Exactly."

"We could pull it off."

"Precisely."

"And Lily wouldn't suspect a thing…"

"You got my thinking, girl," laughed Victoria. "Okay, so are you ready to put operation Get Lily And James Together into action?"

"I am indeed."

Just at that moment, the door burst open, revealing the girl in question along with her two closest friends.

"Hello, Victoria, Rosie," smiled Lily.

"Er, hi, Lils," replied Rosmerta.

"Hi," chimed Victoria at exactly the same time. She hoped that Lily hadn't heard her and Rosmerta talking. If she had, the whole plan would be ruined before it was even started!

"Is it just me, or do you seem very happy?" Rosmerta enquired to Lily.

Lily shrugged. "Oh, nothing. Just, earlier, I found out that James does in fact still like me!"

Victoria and Rosmerta exchanged glances worriedly. They both knew that what Lily believed to be true was anything but.

_**End of Chapter Cinq!**_

**Ultra Special Blah Blah Blah 5: **Whoa, five chapters. Shame they aren't all that long. Never mind, though. Chapter six is on its way!


	6. So much for Sonia Rambrick

Author's Note: hey everybody! I know this chapter isn't as long as the first two, but it's better than chapters three and four. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Six: So much for Sonia Rambrick…

It was the crack of dawn when Victoria and Rosmerta got up the next morning. They, washed, dressed and breakfasted early then examined the 'How to a get a wizard to fall in love with you in 10 days' article and the picture of Sonia Rambrick (Rosmerta, it seemed, had got the name right) next to it.

"Why can't we just use the article, and not consult her?" Rosmerta had wanted to know, so Victoria had explained that the _Witch Weekly_ editors might have modified Sonia's input so as to make it appear more glamorous or agreeable.

Sonia Rambrick, however, did not appear in the Great Hall until Lily, Marlene and Alice were already there. Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, Victoria and Rosmerta oh-so-casually sauntered over to the Ravenclaw table.

"Hello. We're Victoria and Rosmerta, you might've seen us before…"

Sonia gave a brief nod.

"And you might know our friend over there, Lily Evans…"

"The redhead? Yeah, I've seen her before. Isn't she the one that total hunk James Potter likes?"

"Erm… yeah…"

"I think he should get over her. I mean, no offence, but he should have _way_ better taste than that."

"Well, that's kind of what we wanted to talk to you about. That article of yours in _Witch Weekly--_"

"Oh, you mean that one, _How to a get a wizard to fall in love with you in 10 days_? Yeah, well, it doesn't work. My friend Hayley tried it out, and she couldn't even get a date after three weeks."

Victoria looked crestfallen.

"But you'll still help us, right?" asked Rosmerta hopefully.

"Help you with what? You haven't told me anything yet!"

Victoria took a deep breath. "Well, Lily over there, she likes Potter now. Only he doesn't like her any more. And--"

"You want me to get them together?"

Victoria and Rosmerta both made wide eyes. "Please," said Rosmerta.

Sonia raised her eyebrows. "You can forget it. Why should I get a guy to fall in love with another girl when he could be with me?"

The two Gryffindor girls stared at Sonia blankly.

"Well, um, never mind. Sorry for bothering you," mumbled Victoria, and she and Rosmerta made a hasty exit.

"Well that was a complete waste of time," moaned Rosmerta. "Now what are we going to do? Should we tell James that Lily likes him? Or keep quiet?"

Victoria shrugged. "You know, Rosie, I have absolutely no idea," she said absent-mindedly.

"Then we keep quiet," announced Rosmerta decidedly, "and we wait for any more news. After all, nothing is one hundred per cent definite, especially when it's boys we're dealing with. We'll have to observe both their—that is to say, James Potter and Lily Evans'—behaviour next class."

"I'm glad you've come up with something," muttered Victoria. "All I can think of at the moment is those gorgeous waffles we had for breakfast!"

-xXx-

Later that day, the two friends decided to put their observation skills to the test.

"Take notes," Rosmerta had hissed as they filed into Transfiguration class. She had also proposed the notion that it was a good idea to sit separately, but not too far from each other to communicate.

Half an hour had gone by and nothing of interest had happened, just the usual: Sirius Black getting told off for leaning back on his chair, McGonagall making the class practise a new spell they had learned, Alice and Frank advertising their devotion for each other, etc. etc.

But when McGonagall had exited the classroom to find something (Rosmerta didn't know what; she hadn't been listening—at least not to that bit), things started to liven up.

Lily, in front of however-many witnesses, had turned around and actually _flirted_ with James Potter.

Yes, _flirted_.

Rosmerta had thought that even if James did hate Lily, he would abandon his dislike and flirt right back.

Only… he didn't.

Instead, he gave Lily and unconvincing half-smile and turned away to ask Remus something.

_This _really _isn't going according to plan_, thought Rosmerta miserably. Then, with sudden inspiration, she wrote,

_Vic, we should tell lily not to flirt so much. We could say that James is a guy that likes a challenge—perfectly true—and that he's only not responding because he's too embarrassed or something._

Then she folded the piece of parchment in the shape of a paper airplane and charmed it to fly over to Victoria at the other side of the classroom.

Victoria unfolded the parchment and scanned Rosmerta's note with her brown eyes, then raises a carefully-plucked eyebrow at her friend.

Finding another piece of parchment and picking up her quill, Rosmerta desperately scribbled,

_Okay, obviously not… but we could say that he wants to play it cool or something. She'll believe that, right? I mean, we're the boy experts in our dorm. Right?_

-xXx-

"He doesn't like me any more," wailed a distraught Lily when the girls retired to their dormitory after a days' worth of hard work in their various lessons. "He doesn't, I can tell he doesn't!"

Alice patted her on the back.

"I mean, it's not like he was even teasing me," continued Lily. "It was OK when he was teasing me. But he was ignoring me! He's been avoiding me for the last few days!"

In other circumstances, Marlene might have been amused to hear one of her best friends—especially the "Miss Independent" don't-need-a-guy Lily Evans—howling childishly about a boy. However, the pained look on Lily's face would have made Marlene felt like she was stealing candy from a baby had she laughed.

Victoria stepped in. "God, lily, isn't it obvious? He's playing it cool so you won't be put off by his up front-edness like all those times in the past."

"You think?" said Lily, looking hopeful all of a sudden.

"I _know_," Victoria assured her. And the radiating smile that she earned in return made her feel just a little less guilty about lying to her friend.

_**End of Chapter Six!**_

**Ultra Special Blah Blah Blah 6: **Yup, six whole chapters! (Wow… not) Chapter seven is on its way, with news about the Beauxbatons exchange trip too. Oh yes and before I forget, thanks to all my wonderful reviewers!


	7. Important news

Author's Note: Hello and aargh. This story is out of my control. I had lots of things planned—but no, I just HAD to go and change everything on the spur of the moment! But oh well, what's done 'tis done and anyway I could adapt my ideas. Well, enough of the ramble. I hope you enjoy this chapter, please read & review, etc etc. See y'all, XxHellzAngelxX P.S. FYI, this chapter was going to be called _So close…_ and I had a hard job trying to choose a title, but here we are. 

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Seven: Important News

Although not much had happened on the whole James thing, Lily wasn't going to go moping. Quite the opposite in fact as McGonagall, who Lily had shown her plans to do a Beauxbatons exchange trip to, had consulted the Headmaster. And had returned with some good news.

"The Headmaster has some contacts in Beauxbatons who, incidentally, were thinking the same thing. We have organized it all. A maximum of 100 Hogwarts students will spend a week in France. Then when they come back, a maximum of 100 Beauxbatons students will accompany them and stay at Hogwarts for a week," McGonagall explained to Lily.

Lily, taking all this in, was surprised at how quickly the schools had gotten everything together. After all, usually events like these took weeks or even months to prepare. "When, though, Professor?" she asked.

"The exchange will take place during the Christmas holidays, a good few months from now. So I suggest you don't get too excited just yet," the Transfiguration professor informed her, sounding as if she had rehearsed the whole thing.

Lily nodded reflectively. "Well, thank you professor for telling me this. Is there anything I could do to help?"

"Actually, yes," replied McGonagall. "On the last day of our French guests' visit here we are holding a ball. And I rather thought you could be in charge of it. After all, you are Head Girl."

Lily practically squealed in pleasure. Not only were her ideas—dreams, if you like—becoming reality, but _she _was in charge of an event as big as a school ball, not to mention one with foreign visitors!

"I'll start preparing now," she thought aloud. "Thanks professor," she added.

It took her only a few minutes to think up some ideas. So far on her list were: _Masquerade or themed ball e.g. Muggle dress only, fancy dress._ On the reverse side of the parchments she quickly scribbled another list that consisted of: _candles and flowers on each table, "Flavours of the world" buffet, garlands made from bewitched ice._

_This is going to be great_, thought Lily as she jotted down some more ideas. _I can't wait to tell Alice and Marlene!_

-xXx-

She didn't, however, get an opportunity to tell them until much later that day. They were all in Potions class brewing a healing potion (_curatio venenum_) when Lily broke the news.

"You know how I had the idea of an exchange trip with Beauxbatons?" said Lily as she started to stir the grey liquid inside her cauldron.

"Hmm?" murmured Marlene in response. Her eyes flicked towards the instructions that Slughorn had written on the blackboard.

"Well," continued Lily, nudging Alice so as to get her to listen, "I spoke to McGonagall and she said that 100 pupils from our school get to go and stay over there for a week and when they come back the same amount of students from Beauxbatons come with them and stay here for a week! Oh and not to mention a Christmas ball."

Marlene, who had only been half-listening, focussed her attention on Lily when she heard the words "Christmas ball".

"There's going to be a ball?" asked Alice interestedly.

"Uh-huh," replied Lily. "And guess what, I'm organizing it!"

"Ooh!" gasped Marlene with excitement. "Can we help you?"

Lily smiled kindly. "Naturally. At the moment I'm only putting down some ideas, but I'll have to choose a band to hire, colour schemes for decorations, themes for dress, food…" Her voice trailed off as she imagined herself and James dancing together in a candle-lit Great Hall, but her fantasy was interrupted by an enthusiastic-looking Slughorn, who was rubbing his hands together as he came over to inspect her potion.

"Miss Evans, it's blue!" he cried. Lily bit her lip. "It's supposed to be turquoise, didn't you see? Well, this won't do!" Slughorn raised his bushy eyebrows at his star pupil. "But seeing as you normally get everything just right, and you probably have things on your mind being Head Girl and all and I'll let you get away with it just this once." He winked, then moved on to scrutinise Alice's attempts.

Lily caught James's eye as she gazed around the dark dungeon. She blushed at the sight of his sparkling hazel eyes and quickly busied herself, rectifying her potion.

"So," said Alice after Slughorn had moved away, having inspected her and Marlene's concoctions, "who's going to France from Hogwarts?"

Lily shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know, but I think it will probably be people that speak French."

"Hmm, very logical," grinned Marlene.

"I guess."

"Yeah, but make sure we can go too!" added Alice with more than just a hint of excitement. "I love France. And we could see Hestia there!"

"I'll try, but I can't make any promises seeing as it's not actually my decision. But hopefully Hestia will be on the return trip to Hogwarts, and we'll all see her anyway," Lily said optimistically.

"Hopefully," repeated Marlene.

"Yes. Okay, now shall we get on with our work?" The threesome had abandoned their potions to talk and Lily had noticed Marlene's grey mixture bubbling and spitting away in the background.

"Good idea," said Alice.

"Boring though," added Marlene. Lily pretended to smack her on the head. "Only joking!"

Lily smiled. She was really glad that Alice and Marly were her best friends (clichéd as it sounded); Alice was sweet, kind and thoughtful whereas Marlene had more of a cheeky side to her.

On the other side of the room, however, a certain Mr. potter was doing anything _but _appreciating his two best friends. (Peter didn't really count.) Sirius was flicking his potion at James while Remus was consistently nagging at the two of them to get on with their work.

"I'm trying," grumbled James as Remus reminded him yet again.

"You better. It's full moon tonight so I'll have to copy your essay instead of the other way round. Besides, do you _want_ to fail your exams?" replied Remus, after having checked that nobody but the Marauders could hear what he was saying.

James rolled his eyes at the last part, but took into account the rest. It was his duty as Remus's friend to be there for him when he was needed. Which he was, of course, all the time—but especially at full moon. He sighed. It was difficult keeping his Moony's secret and although he hadn't told anyone—not that he would—he felt slightly guilty. He knew it wasn't his fault but he wished he could do more about it. But then again doing more probably wouldn't even be possible. After all, he (along with Sirius and Peter) had already become an Animagus—_an unregistered Animagus_, he silently added—and that had been plenty hard work. Of course, he could always—

"Hello? Anybody home? HELLO?"

James blinked to find Sirius waving his hand in front of his face.

"What?" he mumbled grumpily.

"I was saying how you should give Evans another go," said Sirius. James thought he should have guessed that Sirius was talking about his favourite subject—girls.

"Yeah, I mean, you really liked her, didn't you?" This was contributed by an enthusiastic-looking Peter, who was nodding his head.

"Mm," was all James could say in reply. At that moment exactly, Slughorn clapped his hands together and announced that the class was finished.

"Didn't catch what the homework was," muttered Sirius to Remus. "Want to help me out?"

Remus glared at him. "I'm sick of helping you out. Go and ask someone else."

"What's up with him?" Sirius said to James in an audible whisper. However, Remus heard and stormed off moodily.

"Poor guy, he's got a lot on his plate at the moment," said Peter sympathetically.

Sirius shrugged stiffly.

"Did you by any chance find out what the homework is?" James asked, looking at Peter, who shook his head apologetically.

"Ah well. I have a quick meeting with McGonagall and Evans tonight, so I'll ask her what it is afterwards."

"Who—Evans or McGonagall?" joked Sirius.

"Hahaha," James said sarcastically. "Anyway, let's not think of boring homework ow. It's lunchtime!"

Sirius cheered and the three boys made their way to the Great Hall, where they were greeted with the delights of a traditional Sunday dinner.

-xXx-

Lily opened the door to the Heads' common room.

"Hello Miss Evans, come right in," called the brisk voice of Professor McGonagall, who was settled in a comfortable armchair.

Closing the door after her, Lily went over to the nearest chair and sat herself down. "Hello, Professor."

A few moments passed in silence as they waited for James, who suddenly burst in not long after. He smiled at Lily, apologised for his lack of punctuality to the Transfiguration professor, and plonked himself on another chair. McGonagall cleared her throat.

"About the trip to Beauxbatons," she began, "I am going to produce some posters which I will pin on the school noticeboards. However as Head Boy and Girl I trust the two of you to publicise the whole event and spread the word. I also have some news which might be a problem, which is that only one of you can go." Lily bit her lip, but James simply nodded.

"You will have to decide between yourselves. But moving on…" She then went on to explain how big a responsibility being a Head Boy/Girl was, how they should make the most of it, yawn, yawn. James was thoroughly bored by the end of it, and extremely grateful when McGonagall finished her speech and left the room.

"So…" he said, not wanting to let silence take over.

"Yes, about the Beauxbatons thing, I just wanted to say…"

"You should go."

"…You should go."

Lily blushed. James probably would've, too, but he wasn't exactly the blushing type and therefore busied himself talking. "I mean, you speak French. I don't. And you'll do as you're supposed to and look after the others."

"But it isn't as if you're going to run off and leave them, though, is it?" argued Lily. "Besides, I'm already in charge of the ball."

James shrugged. "I guess. But I'm not really that bothered about going."

"What if," started Lily thoughtfully, "you were in charge of the ball and I went to France? That might be fair."

"Yeah—well if you don't mind that is," replied James, nodding.

"Not at all. In fact I've already jotted down some ideas, you can have them…" She rummaged through her bag and brought out the paper with the list on it and held it out to James. He took it and thanked her.

"By the way, what happened between you lot and Remus? I saw he was a bit upset earlier today. Not meaning to pry or anything."

"Oh, it's just that time of the month," explained James. Lily stared.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, er, nothing. Long story. I'll tell you another time maybe." James, however, had no intention of spilling Moony's secrets.

Lily smiled. He smiled back. He leaned closer and Lily had just closed her eyes when the distant sound of barking made James draw back. An anxious expression appeared on his face. Not wasting a second he made a quick exit, leaving Lily alone and confused.

_**End of Chapter Sept!**_

**Ultra special blah blah blah: **Thank goodness it's finished and typed up at last! It's a longer chapter, though, so plenty to keep any readers occupied until I get the next chapter up (aargh).


	8. Forgotten, forgiven

Author's Note: YES!!! I'M BACK!!! And I've been thinking, and come up with a good (well in my opinion though I am a bit vain) storyline! I am VERY happy! Please R&R.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter…

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Eight: Forgotten, forgiven

The next morning, Lily still felt confused. As she explained to Marlene, "Half of me loves him and wants to be with him, half of me wants to slap him for playing with my feelings, half of me wants to follow him to see what he's up to and half of me wants things to go back to normal." The reader is probably thinking, as Marlene replied, "That's a lot of halfs." But it was true: all—well, not all, but a lot—of Lily's sub-personalities were chasing her round in circles.

"I just don't know what to think," she concluded.

"Now, that's one thing that's obvious. Come on maybe breakfast will cheer you up."

Hoping her friend was right, Lily meekly trotted after Marlene in the direction of the Great Hall.

If confusion, anger, misery and despair weren't enough, Lily was greeted by the sight of millions of couples. Not only Frank and Alice, but practically everybody in every house in every table in every corner of the room. Lily felt healous as she gazed around the Hall—it seemed to her as if she was singled out to have relationship problems or something. She guessed she just hadn't noticed before. Close to gasping and clutching her head she turned around so that her back was to the Hall, much to Marlene's bewilderment.

"What's up?" she asked kindly.

"Nothing," breathed Lily, but she wouldn't look her friend in the eye.

"Lily, you're lying. I can read you like a book. Now tell me—what's wrong?" Marlene repeated.

Lily let out a sigh. Not a sigh of exasperation, or of boredom, but of just—well, life. "It's just… there's so many couples in there. They're all laughing, or talking or joking around together." She turned to face her best friend sadly. "Why can't I be like them, Marly? What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you," said Marlene soothingly. "Loads of guys would jump at the chance to date you. I mean, just look at what James would have done to go out with you."

"Exactly—don't you see?" Lily sighed again. "Even James doesn't want me any more now. And it just happens that I start to like him just as he's getting over me."

"Don't worry, you'll be—" Marlene began; however, she was cut off by Lily talking again. "I mean, I haven't felt like this about anybody before, you know? But at the same time I feel as if I've liked him all along, just thought he was arrogant… and now the arrogance has mostly gone, what I'm left with are my feelings for him."

Marlene raised her eyebrows. "Whoa. A lot of information. You must really feel for James."

Lily smiled. "I do."

"Right. Well how about we forget about boys and have a girly shopping trip in Hogsmeade today? I know Alice would be up for it—when she isn't pining for Frank that is," Marlene suggested helpfully, if a little annoyed at the last part.

"Hogsmeade! How could I forget? Yeah, sure!" replied Lily, looking ever so slightly more chirpy. Of course, it was a Hogsmeade weekend. She guessed she'd just been so caught up with other matters that she'd forgotten all about it.

"Okay then! So should we have breakfast now?"

"Alright, but I've just remembered that I need to bring my book back to the library. You go on ahead, I'll join you once I've returned it." Smiling slightly, Lily started walking while Marlene took off in the opposite direction.

-xXx-

Last night had been rough for James. He had been bitten even more than usual by Moony and they'd got back to the Common Room later too. And not only that, but had it not been for Moony—not that it was his fault of course—he would have kissed Lily.

But he knew what he was going to do. He wouldn't tell her about Remus, but he would say how he was sorry—and then he would kiss her. So when he came down for breakfast—later than normally because of Remus' furry little problem—and spotted Lily talking with Marlene, he decided that this was the time to apologise (he'd do the kissing bit later). Especially when he heard what Lily was saying—he couldn't believe his ears! He couldn't believe his luck, either, when Lily was coming his way (well, the way to the library).

"Lily!" he called, almost nervously.

The redhead jumped, then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him. "Oh, hey. You gave me a surprise there," she said, smiling.

"A pleasant one I hope," grinned James in return.

"Why of course," Lily replied mildly, which just made him grin even more; though he dropped his voice when he spoke again: "Listen. About last night. I'm so sorry… it's just, well, it's a long story… anyway it's all sorted out now but I want to know if you accept my apology."

Lily felt her heart race. What should she say? James did seem genuinely sorry, though… then again he hadn't properly explained why he'd had to go…

"Sure. Don't worry about it," she smiled at last.

James' grin expanded. He clapped his hands together. "Great! So, er, would you be interested in going to Hogsmeade with me?"

The bubble of joy inside Lily started to deflate. She had said would go with Marly and Alice, but what about James? Well, she had said yes to Marlene first, but then again she would love to go with James… oh what was she to do? There was only one thing for it, and that was:

"James, I'm really sorry but I've said I would go with Marlene and Alice and I can't let my friends down… I'd love to go with you but…"

"No worries." James attempted to crack a smile when he had an idea. "Hey, how about you hang around with your friends while I hang around with mine, and then we meet in the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer or something altogether, afterwards?"

"That's a good idea," agreed Lily enthusiastically, "yeah, let's do that."

"Glad to have sorted that out then," said James, once more with a grin upon his face.

"Well… see you later."

"Yeah, see you."

And with that happy smile on his face, James proceeded to the Great Hall—where things weren't so peachy…

"Sirius Black, you are gross!" declared a disgusted-looking Marlene McKinnon. Sirius, who was sat opposite her, was stuffing his face with as much food as he could fit into it. "You're eating so fast that all the food is sprayed into my face!" Casting a look of loathing at him, she wiped off a bit Sirius' breakfast that had found its way to her cheek.

"It's called eating," said Sirius through a mouthful of toast, "with a purpose."

"And what may that be," asked James, amused, as he sat down next to his friend.

"Hunger," said Sirius at once.

"Greed," replied Marlene at the same time.

James laughed, then noticing that Remus wasn't present, inquired where he was.

"He's, er, still about under the weather," answered Sirius while shooting a significant glance to James. "He… his cold has come back again."

"Oh, yes, of course." James nodded. "I forgot."

In the meantime, Marlene and Alice had been perfecting their catapult—a large gold spoon half-on and half-off the edge of the wooden table—and were now loading it with 'missiles', or in this case, grapes. As they watched Sirius continue to eat, they smirked to each other. With a quiet, 'one, two, three' they launched the grape yelling "FIRE!!!!" together. At the noise, Sirius looked up—and the grape hit him right on the forehead before slithering down his nose and landing in the table with a _squelch_. Sirius glared at the girls who were already laughing hysterically.

"Why you—" Too annoyed to think of anything reasonable to say, he grabbed a nearby tomato and chucked it. In return Alice launched another grape, which hit James, who threw a sausage, which hit Lily who had just sat down and was now also laughing, and who helped her friends catapult more grapes, which hit Frank, who… well, that is irrelevant. After a couple of seconds the whole Great hall was at it.

"STOP THAT THIS INSTANT!" screeched an irate-looking Professor McGonagall, and to her surprise everybody ceased fire for a moment—but then carried on as loudly and lively as ever. "Oh my goodness! Do something, Albus!" shrieked McGonagall as a flying pirece of toast knocked off her hat and two seventh-year Gryffindor boys high-fived each other.

"QUIET OR THERE WILL BE NO HOGSMEADE TRIPS FOR ANYBODY TODAY!" roared Dumbledore, though he didn't look nearly as angry or chocked as McGonagall, more kind of amused. Nevertheless everybody stopped with the exception of a solitary grape that found itself flying towards Severus Snape. And hit him on the back of his neck and slid, oh-so-slowly, down his back.

"Class," whispered Sirius.

"And don't you forget it," smirked James.

--xXx—

It was surprisingly cold at Hogsmeade. Lily kept shivering involuntarily and it wasn't long before the girls decided to end their shopping trip to go to the Three Broomsticks.

"Well, at least it wasn't completely pointless," muttered Alice, prodding the one shopping bag they had managed to fill, as they entered the warm inn.

"Yeah, but what about us?" responded Marlene. "_We're _not sorted out!"

The girls had decided to have a look in the local robe shop when Alice came across a light blue, pearly satin dress—the perfect dress for a ball. And as the Christmas Ball was approaching…

"Hey, it's not my fault you didn't find anything. Besides, Lily did," Alice replied.

Lily sighed. In that same shop she'd spotted a dress that would have suited her, too—a strapless silver silk chiffon number. Only problem was, they didn't have her size. Well, one of the problems. The other one happened to be its price. "You could always get James to buy it for you," Alice had teased.

"Well, I'm not too bothered really. I'll have a look at Esther Wright's robe shop in Diagon Alley, they do evening dresses there too," yawned Marlene. "That is, if Lily comes too."

"What. Oh. Right. Yeah, sure. Sorry, I was off in my own dream world there," Lily said.

But of course Marlene couldn't just leave it there. Being the person she was, she just _had_ to taunt Lily. "Dreams, eh? Normal daydreams? Or—" she wiggled her eyebrows in a 'sexy'—that is, joking—way, "erotic ones, featuring James Potter?"

"I hope not," said a disapproving voice, and for one split second Lily though it was a customer from the table next to them. But oh no, it just had to be much worse than that. Because it was James Potter himself.

"Th—no, it's—I can explain!" she spluttered.

"Im sure you can. But should we not greet each other properly first, before you throw me in at the deep end with your… ahem… daydreams about me?"

Lily glared at him.

"And hello to you too. By the way, the others are just coming. In fact they should be here any second—oh here they are!" James, who had just sat down, got up to let his friends squeeze by him to sit down—namely Frank, who seemed rather eager to get a seat next to Alice.

"So, what have you been up to so far?" Sirius asked the girls once they were all comfortable. "Anything interesting?"

"Not really. Not for you hooligans anyway," joked Marlene.

"Hooligans? Since when have we been hooligans," asked Sirius, but then thought better of it—"actually, don't answer that!"

Marlene stuck out her tongue. Sirius did the same, but after receiving no response ofr that, kicked her foot.

"Erm… want to get somewhere a bit more peaceful?" said James, pointedly, to Lily.

"OK. How about we go to Jenkins', you know that new café?"

"Great idea," agreed James, before turning to the rest and telling them where he and Lily were going.

As they exited the Three Broomsticks, James turned to Lily again. "Now tell me, miss Evans, about these daydreams of yours…"

_**CHAPTER EIGHTO IS FINITO!!!**_

A/N: OHMYGODDD!!!! That took AGES. I'm just so glad the chappie is finally finished (or, in me-speak, finito). PS I have links for character looky-likeys so if anybody wants to know what they are, jsut ask! Cheeriosa!


	9. New hope

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, much as I would love to.

Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated for ages, hope you liked my last chapter, thanks for reviewing everybody!! Love ya!

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Nine: New hope

"It was fantastic!" enthused a rosy-cheeked, fresh-faces Lily excitedly. "Really brilliant!"

"No regrets, then?"

"Not one. You know, there's a whole different side to James when you get to know him. He's sweet, he's kind, he's funny—and he's a great—"

"Ohmigod, you guys KISSED?!" Marlene sat straight up, a cheeky smile playing at her lips as she turned to face her friend properly. "I can't wait to hear this! So was he, like, tender and passionate or did he have a weird technique like jabbing his tongue into your mouth—"

"MARLENE! For gods' sake! No of course we didn't kiss! All I was going to say was that he's a great person to be with! God, you are disgusting. Never mind Sirius Black, you're the gross one!" Lily ranted, but she wasn't that angry. In fact, she was re-playing her "date" with James in her mind's eye, and was so off in her dream world that she barely noticed Marlene's flaming red cheeks. Though, of course, she did notice, because at that moment Marlene dropped the book she was holding.

"What?" asked Lily suspiciously.

"Nothing, nothing, I was just about to say, erm, about, well, um, where did you… go? Yes, where did you go? It can't have been far from the Hogsmeade high street, 'cause, I reckon it takes longer, to, erm…. So where did you go?" Marlene gabbled desperately. Normally, Lily would have noticed that Marlene was acting strange, but then again this wasn't normal Lily. This was the new Lily (or so she felt), the feel-free-and-be-yourself Lily.

"Oh right. Well. Jenkins'. It's a new café on the high street. Really nice—not an awkward place where you can't really talk, like the Hog's Head or whatever it's called. It's quite a fun atmosphere," Lily told her friend, who was now rapidly becoming her usual self again.

"Is that all you did—talk?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "So what?"

"Nothing, nothing… But isn't that a bit, y'know, boring?"

"Why, what did you get up to with Sirius?" asked Lily, grinning.

"We just fooled around a bit, that's all." Marlene was clamming up again, and rather too much so for Lily's liking.

"Meaning…?"

"What?"

"Oh, come _on_ Marly. Tell me what happened."

"Nothing happened."

"If nothing happened, then why do your cheeks resemble beetroot and why are you pretending to read your book, which you may not have noticed, is upside down?"

Marlene snapped her book shut, though she did not look up. "OK, OK, I'll tell you. But only because you are the best friend in the world at the moment, what with Alice always skipping off with Frank. Did you know I caught them snogging in the—"

"DON'T change the subject!" warned Lily, adjusting her expression so that it read "I-know-what-you're-doing-so-don't-mess-with-me". She folded her arms. "I don't want to hear about them two right now. Tell me what happened between you and Sirius."

Marlene took a deep breath, rolled her eyes and shoved away her book before crossing her legs in the 'lotus' position to resume her story. "Basically, once you went we thought it would be hilarious to play a prank on you two."

"A prank?" repeated Lily sceptically.

"Fine. Lots of pranks. And then Frank and Alice cleared off, and Remus went to get some more drinks, and we…"

Lily grinned, and gave her friend a hug. "So what was it like? Does Alice know? Come on, give me the details!"

Marlene glared at her. "This is one of those times that I _really _don't want to be patronized. Especially by someone who has less kissing experience than me!"

It was Lily's turn to glare. As she had been constantly reminded over the years, Marlene was more of a hit with the boys (the ones that weren't Frank or James. Of course). Marlene had dated quite a lot, but realised that she never even liked most of them in the first place, and had only been out with them for the sake of it. So she'd sworn off boys for a year. And now, obviously… well, that was besides the point. So what if Lily had only kissed one guy before? _It's quality, not quantity,_ though Lily, almost as if in defense. Not that the guy had been anything special. Well, okay, he had been special. Only now, compared to James, did he seem like just a thing of the past. Lily sighed. Jacques _had _been special. The thing was, he'd left Hogwarts to return to France when his mother became ill, so that he would not be too far should anything happen. He and Lily had lost contact after a few months. Lily remembered how sad she had been when he told her he would have to leave. But regardless. He was nothing to her any more. He was just a memory, a distant, hazy memory, floating along the horizon.

"Lily? Are you OK?"

The sound of Marlene's voice broke Lily's train of thoughts.

"Sorry, I was off in my own dream world there."

"You looked as if you're about to cry. Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

"No, no, I'm fine, I'm fine…" She drew away from Marlene, who was patting her on the back. "There's nothing wrong." She didn't want to let on she's been thinking about Jacques. Marlene and Alice had looked after her, when he had first left. She didn't want to bring back the feelings—she felt she would cry for some strange reason—and spoil her friend's day, especially after Marlene had kissed Sirius. And now that she had James she knew she couldn't think about Jacques any more. Guiltily she turned away from Marlene and buried her head in her pillow.

"Well, I'm going to meet up with Alice in the library. Come when you're feeling better."

Lily gave a half-hearted nod.

"Okay, I'll see you later then," smiled Marlene consolingly as she approached the dormitory door. "Bye." And with that, she left.

-xXx-

"You kissed her? You _kissed_ her? McKinnon? And with a whole crowd watching? Yeah, right!"

Sirius smirked, leaning against the door way and looking extremely smug. "You mean, Prongs, _you _don't believe it that your best mate kissed a girl and you didn't, even though you could've. Though then again I doubt Evans would let you, what with your history and all."

"Charming," commented Remus, though he said it with a smile. "Something exciting has just happened, yet you're bickering and teasing each other. Typical."

"You're right. But you'd have to stop us…" Sirius brought out his wand—"at the point of a sword."

"On the contrary, my dear friend," grinned Remus, brandishing his own. "I'll think you'll find that you are very wrong indeed."

Sirius pretended to gasp. "My deareth friendeth, howeth caneth you-eth sayeth such a thingeth? Thou hath insulted-eth me!"

"And thou hath insulted-eth me too!" James drew his own "sword" and pointed it to Sirius' neck. "Thou shalt payeth!"

"Not before thou hath payeth!" yelled Sirius, and the swordfighting began. First he and Remus attacked James, then James got his own back on Sirius, who turned on Remus—all through this running riot in the dormitory. Finally Remus managed to push both of his friend's against the door. "Ha! Thou shalt suffer!" he shouted, laughing. Then, with the help of Peter (who had all this while been sitting and watching the episode with admiration), they opened the door whilst keeping Sirius and James pinned against it—how they did it they didn't know—resulting with the two boys falling back onto the carpet outside the boys' dormitory. They immediately resumed fighting and got to the Common Room before they were stopped by one perplexed Marlene McKinnon.

"What on _earth_ are you doing?" she laughed.

"I needeth helpeth," gasped Sirius, who was lying on the floor. He stuck out his hand. "Thou shalt helpeth me!"

Marlene rolled her eyes with a smile, helping him up—but instantly regretting it. Victoria and Rosmerta had just entered the Common Room, and Victoria—who had the biggest crush on Sirius—was glaring at her as if there was no tomorrow.

"Uh-oh," muttered Sirius under his breath.

"That is correct," muttered Marlene in reply as her two roommates made their way up to the dormitory, their expressions never changing. She listened for the sound of the dorm door closing, and fortunately they didn't have to wait long.

"So, where are you going now?" asked Sirius.

"The library, to find Alice," she replied absent-mindedly.

"Where's Lily?" piped up James eagerly. "Is she going too?"

"Erm… I don't know… Got to go, see you later!" With a hasty wave, Marlene disappeared out of the Gryffindor Tower.

"Do you reckon she's OK? Lily, I mean? Or do you--"

"I reckon you need to chill." Sirius clapped James on the shoulder in a macho-macho way as if telling a five-year-old how to shave. "Relax. You're obsessed."

James shrugged. He didn't want to admit anything, at least not to Sirius who would undoubtedly make fun of him, but then again if you can't trust your best friend who can you trust? "Padfoot, I've liked Lily since our first year. I like her more than ever now. And since we've started dating…"

"What, it's official? I thought you just wanted to meet up. Besides, you only went to a café…"

James waved these accusations aside. "That's not the point. I've won her over. No, what I mean is that now I've got her I don't want to lose her."

"No worries, she loves you. After all, there's only been one other guy in her life..."

"Jacques," finished James with a gloomy sigh. Then he straightened up. "But he left ages ago. I won't have to worry about him. Lily's _way _over him."

He seemed so confident, so sure, that he thought no more of it. Little did he know of what was to come…

_**CHAPTER NEUF EST FINIS!**_

**A/N: **Omg, I've got sooooo much planned! Hope you like, I mean hate, the idea of Jacques. Mwahahahaha! And, what's more, it's NOT A CLICHE!!!!! YAY!!!!


	10. The story of the past

Disclaimer: I may not own any characters you recognise, i.e. Lily and James, but I do in fact own Jacques. :P

Author's Note: Not particularly imaginative or creative, but a little fill-in chapter about l'histoire de Jacques. Mwahaha.

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Ten: The Story of the Past

_Lily looked around the room. It was highly decorated with gold and intricate designs. Its chandeliers swung from the high, domed ceiling and the windows breathed fresh air. But she was here to admire the decoration. She was here for only one thing._

"_Madamoiselle," said Jacques' husky voice as he kissed Lily's hand. "What a pleasure to meet you again."_

"_The pleasure is all mine," Lily said, and with a smile raised his hand to her cheek. "Oh, how I have missed you!"_

"_I assure you that you cannot have missed me as much as I have missed you," he replied._

_Lily felt a light tingle spread through her body. "I…" she began, but she did not know what to say._

"_You… you are with James Potter, I understand?"_

"_No, no! I mean… yes I am… but I do not love him. I do not love him as I love you, at least!" Lily's heart was thumping slightly now. What if Jacques did not think that she loved him as he loved her? _

"_I see." Jacques' voice was an echo._

"_Please forgive me for I know not what I do. Let me make it up to you! A chance is all I ask for."_

"_Then a chance is what you may get. I have a challenge."_

_Lily was taken aback. "What kind of challenge?"_

"_One that will prove that you love me, and not that traitor James Potter." His voice was so serene, yet at the same time Lily could hear the resent in it. _

"_Of course!" she answered at once. "Anything."_

"_Then kiss me."_

"_Kiss you?"_

"_That is what I said."_

"_But…"_

"_But what?"_

"_But I do not want to betray James, and I cannot kiss you without having betrayed him."_

"_If you truly love me you will accept the challenge."_

"_I love you, Jacques, believe me I do!"_

"_Then accept."_

"_I… yes. Yes, I will." _

_Lily clung to him; she was afraid he would leave. "Yes, I will."_

_She felt the satisfaction in the man opposite her. She looked up to his chiselled face; his sweet, calm smile; his love. And with a smile, she raised her chin to his and—_

With a loud _thump_ Lily woke up to find herself on the floor, next to the duvet which was half-on, half-off the four-poster bed. She rubbed her eyes, trying to remember what had just happened. The dream. The terrifying dream. Well, terrifying for her.

Why oh why was that stupid French ex of hers haunting her _dreams_? Haunting her thoughts was enough, and even that seemed to be becoming a problem. Was there something Lily had done that she was subconsciously feeling guilty about, relevant to Jacques? She tried to remember. Surely not. Or was there something else? Had he made her keep a promise, which she had broken? Again, unlikely. Or was there something else…? Was there something that she had kept shifting to the back of her mind whenever it drew clear, a secret? She did not know.

Lily got up, and padded across the dormitory, being quiet to avoid waking up the rest of her roommates, to the window. Silently she crept up and sat, curled up, on the window-sill as she stared out at the beautiful, if dark, Hogwarts grounds. Below her, the lake was shimmering in the moonlight. Lily started to remember…

-xXx-

Jacques was thirteen when his parents divorced.

His mother, the Muggle-born witch Anne-Marie, had been famous in the village they had lived in: for her exceedingly good cooking, her daintiness when it came to dancing, and her beauty. She was a typical 'blossom'. Her parents had been from a family of gypsies that had travelled all over Europe, resulting in Anne-Marie's rather exotic appearance. That was why his father had fallen for her, Jacques supposed. It could have been the only reason.

His father was an important, influential figure, with some job Jacques couldn't remember the long and complicated title of. A wizard, pure-blood, Monsieur Jacques Belvoir Sr. was from a traditional family that believed that men should earn the money while the women stayed at home, occupied all day long with domestic chores.

Anne-Marie of course did not agree with this—another reason for being known amongst the other villagers. She had stood up to her husband; refusing to obey his commands, arguing for what she was worth, being firm and stubborn. For years Jacques had to put up with constant screaming and shouting in the Belvoir household, until the fateful day that his parents announced the divorce.

He was glad, in a way. He knew that whatever pain the family may have suffered and were suffering, it would have been ten times worse had his parents stayed together. And although it did sadden him deeply, he hid it all for years to come.

Just before his parents agreed on divorce, Jacques' father had come home with the news of his promotion. His new job would involve an awful lot of travelling, and as much as it pleased him it displeased his wife. Jacques remembered that day. It had been the last argument in the Belvoir house.

Once divorced, Monsieur Belvoir moved to England; it was the main place he'd have to visit for his work. Jacques opted to go with him—or rather, was forces to. His father had been very proud of his grades at school for the past few years, and declared him to have excellent potential in a place like Britain. So Jacques agreed with his father's wish and went to Hogwarts, where he met an extremely kind, sweet and good-looking girl called Lily Evans.

He'd been Sorted into Ravenclaw. He was a quiet, brainy, easy-going guy and so did not stand out from the crowd in any way. Instead, he'd simply blended in with the rest of them. Nobody noticed him. At first the teachers had been warm and welcoming, but soon the novelty had worn off and Jacques had no-one to turn to. Not that he could exactly converse with them easily. He had been taught a little English at Beauxbatons, but he hadn't learned enough to socialise with other teenagers.

That was until Lily came along.

It had been a rainy lunchtime, when Jacques had had enough. Enough of having to be perfect for his father, who'd payed about as much attention to him as a passer-by; enough of being away from his mother and the home he'd grown up in; enough of being ignored, shunted to the side; enough of having to hide his emotions; enough of being alone. Enough.

So he'd made his way up to the Owlery when the rest of the school were in the Great hall, carrying a single note addressed to his mother. Explaining what he was about to do. He watched the owl fly away into the distance with grief. But he had to do it.

He was just about to jump from the second-highest window up in the school, when she walked in.

After a momentary sweep of silence, she spoke. "Qu'est-ce que… qu'est-ce que tu… fais?" she asked in her simple interpretation of French, though she knew exactly what he was doing.

Jacques shrugged, but returned to his place when he realised it wasn't a teacher.

"Non. Tu pas faire…. Tu ne pas faire… Tu ne vas pas faire. Viens. Parles… avec moi," she said, hoping rhat her French was right and she'd been able to say, "No, you're not going to do that. Come, talk to me."

Jacques however remained where he was, though he looked at the girl with uncertainty.

"Parles avec moi," repeated the girl.

Jacques didn't know what to do or say. Ignore her? Reply in English? Reply in French? Jump? The questions were spinning around his head. He felt faint, especially if he looked down to the grounds below him from where he was standing. Dizzyness. Lurching fear. He couldn't do it. With a strangled sound somewhere between a gasp and a yelp, he stepped—or fell rather—onto the Owlery floor.

-xXx-

Lily talked to him for a while in her limited French until she told him, in English, that she was bringing him to the Hospital Wing, which is where Jacques woke up a few hours later.

From there their friendship began to build. Little by little, Jacques learned English while Lily learned French, and before long they started dating.

They suited each other perfectly, or at least it seemed to be so at the time. James Potter of course had a different view.

Jacques was devastated when, in the middle of their fifth year, he received a letter from France. His mother had fallen seriously ill and was currently taking residence in a hospital. He left the next day to go to France, but sadly his mother grew worse and worse, and he had to make the decision to stay in the same country so that he was near for whenever she needed his help.

Jacques and Lily tried to keep in touch, but they both knew deep down that their now long-distance relationship wasn't going to work. Despite having managed to keep in contact for a few months, they eventually decided to end their relationship and move on. Lily had been distraught, but with the help of her friends had been able to slowly get over Jacques. Or so she felt—looking back now, it seemed to her that she had rather _convinced _herself that she was over him than anything else.

But she was going to Beauxbatons soon, and he would be there. What if he didn't recognise her? What if he did, but didn't care? What if things were awkward between them, and he ignored her? What if he didn't? What if he wanted her back, and she realised how much she'd missed him, and…?

**_END OF CHAPTER 10!_**HHis m


	11. A day to remember part 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, much as I would love to.

Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated for ages, hope you liked my last chapter, thanks for reviewing everybody!! Love ya! LOTS more coming—I've started writing chapter 12 and I've done some serious planning, so hang on there! Luv Xx-I-Love-The-World-xX!

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Eleven: A day to remember part 1 (What a disaster!)

The next morning Lily woke up late. Fortunately first thing for her was a free period for studying (or The Most Boring Non-Lesson Time Ever, as Marlene liked to refer to it as) so she didn't miss any classes. Still, that didn't stop Lily from worrying. After all, she _had _missed breakfast and she wasn't exactly a person that did whatever they wanted whenever they felt like it. In other words, Lily was a creature of habit, living each day by sticking to a disciplined routine. Otherwise, how could she pass her NEWTs? Marlene, on the other hand, took pride in getting up late, going to bed late and handing her homework assignments in late. Or it felt so to Lily at least, who noticed these things. A Lily whose stomach was groaning, loudly right now…

"Hungry?"

Marlene appeared in the doorway of the dorm (which was naturally deserted except for her and Lily), wearing an amused expression.

"Starving," replied the redhead.

"Good. I've managed to smuggle some toast into the Common Room, so as soon as you're dressed you can have a bite to eat. Alice is down there already, waiting, so no pressure."

With a quick "thanks" Lily started to get washed and dressed as Marlene made her way down. Ten minutes later, lily joined them looking much refreshed.

"So you're still alive then," joked Alice when she took a seat and started to eat.

"Moo migh," responded Lily, her mouth full of food. She swallowed. "Wow, I never knew toast could taste this good."

"Let me guess… you've never skipped breakfast before?"

"Of course I have. Like, in our second year when I remembered that I'd forgotten to do my History of Magic essay and I did it at breakfast time so I wouldn't get into trouble."

"You were such a goody-goody then," teased Alice, reminiscing.

Marlene snorted. "She still is!"

They went quiet, however, as they saw James Potter make his way towards them.

"Um… hi. Oh, I've just remembered I need to… send my letter to… my… mother. Come on Marly, let's go," Alice gabbled, practically dragging Marlene out of the Common Room. "Bye."

"So the Sleeping Beauty has been roused from her slumber," said James, once Alice and Marlene had disappeared from sight. He was grinning broadly. "Has some handsome prince been kissing you?"

"I hope no prince would be so cheeky even to try, however handsome he may be," replied Lily readily, "because I'd go mad." But underneath her disapproving manner lurked a smile.

"Good thing too. I'd be worse, and send him off to the Forbidden Forest with a red arse and a pack of wolves chasing him."

Lily had to laugh this time. "OK, enough of my handsome baboon of a prince. I've got to practise McGonagall's weird transfiguration spells for the next class of hers."

"I might be able to help you out there. I'm not too bad at transfiguration myself," James told her hopefully.

"Not too great when it comes to modesty, though, eh?" joked Lily. James feigned offence, sticking out his bottom lip. With a quivery voice of an American boy, he replied, "Ma'am, you better say something real nice soon, or I'll start to cry." He gave a sniff.

Lily rolled her eyes, though she laughed. James straightened up too, and began to speak in his normal voice again. "No, really, I will help you if you want me to. Not that you really need to, being so clever…"

Lily glared at him. "DON'T try and charm me. It won't work. It has always annoyed me and always will," she warned him, before easing up a little to continue. "However, I _would_ appreciate it if you could help me with that spell. I can't seem to get the hang of it somehow."

James, who had been biting his lip in order to suppress laughter during Lily's "don't charm me' talk, calmed and took out his wand. "OK," he began, "remember how McGonagall told us to give the wand a good jab as you're saying the spell? Well, you have to kind of twist your wrist when you do it."

Lily took out her own wand and copied James' actions, but when she did it red sparks came flying out.

"Try again," smiled James encouragingly. She tried but this time blue sparks were emitted. James gave a small laugh and shook his head.

"No, not like that! C'mon, I'll show you." He took Lily's hand in his and did the correct movements, while she glowed inside. _How odd,_ she thought, _that only a month or two ago I said I'd rather go out with Snape than him, and yet now he's holding my hand and I'm not even complaining… and what's more, I _like_ it!_

"So you think you're ready to try the spell again?"

She gave a nod before repeating the right actions. A little dark grey smoke appeared like it was supposed to.

"There you are," smiled James, proudly. "You've done it."

Lily raised her eyebrows, trying to not look to pleased with herself, or the rather comfortable situation that the two found themselves in. That is, on their own, having a good time… _Lord, I've become one of those hopeless romantics!_ thought Lily. She shook herself. "Not so fast. I haven't done the actually spell yet, remember?"

James didn't seem fazed. "Go on, then. You can practise on me if you want."

"Really?" Lily was surprised—the spell involved turning another person into a toad and was very difficult to master. It also took twenty minutes or so to wear off, unless the toad was spoon-fed a disgusting antidote which turned them back into a human. However students couldn't get hold of it outside of lessons, so james would be stuck as a toad for a (if small) while.

"Yeah," he replied airily. "Sure. So you know the incantation, right?"

"I think so."

"Good."

"Okay… well here goes… _Beluafomorph!_... Is that right?"

Lily's wand sizzled as if an electric current was whizzing through it, while the room filled with purple smoke and with a loud "crack!" James shrank down to the size of a… what was _THAT?!_

Lily gasped in horror to see not a toad, but a hideous-looking strange creature with a cat's head, a pig's tail, a hairy body, scaly claws and hooves on its hind legs all fused into one. No, wait, _James'_ hind legs. Oh----!

Right at that moment, Alice and Marlene clambered through the portrait hole, laughing at something, when they noticed the purple smoke.

"Lily, is that you?"

"What happened, are you alright?"

"How did it go with him—MY GOD WHAT _IS _THAT?!!"

Lily looked up guiltily at her friends. At first she thought about lying to them, but she would have to tell them later anyways, and besides Lily Marie Evans did not lie. "Well," she began, "we were practising the spell Professor McGonagall taught us last—"

"Uh oh." Alice clapped a hand over her mouth, holding back laughter. "Don't tell me."

Marlene was dumbstruck. "Are you meaning to say that—that _thing_—is James Potter!?"

Lily bit her lip. "I didn't mean to, it was a mistake! I did the right arm action and everything, and—" Her words were drowned as both Alice and Marlene erupted with howls of laughter. For ten whole minutes they were in hysterics. Eventually they calmed down a _little_, but Lily was still mad at them—though she did, sort of, see what was so amusing. But regardless—what was she going to do if the spell didn't wear off after twenty minutes? Would James stay an ugly beast forever? What would his parents say? What would _her_ parents say? And the teachers? And James' friends, especially Sirius, what would they have to say?

As Lily worked herself up in a state and while her so-called best friends were attempting to stop the giggles, Remus Lupin entered the Gryffindor Tower. Or rather, was trying to. Just as he was going to come in, he fell over onto his face, making the girls all stop and stare. (In Marlene and Alice's cases, though, it didn't last long.) Lily rushed towards him.

"Remus, are you OK?" she asked, panicking more than before now. She checked him for blood, but found none.

"Aargh—yeah, I'm fine…" he mumbled, very aware of the fact that all three girls had just witnessed his fall. He blushed a little. "I think I tripped over something…"

"Are you done now or am I going to have to wait another ten years before I'm allowed to closer?" yelled the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Remus quickly (or as quickly as he could, anyway) got up, and Lily moved away a little, still troubled. Neither was particularly in the mood to talk. With a reluctantly forced smile Remus said goodbye and went up to the boys' dorms.

_Thank God he didn't ask where James was! _Lily found herself thinking desperately. Apart from Marlene and Alice knowing, she seemed rather lucky on the whole, after the spell of course. It could always have been much worse. Sirius might have found out. But he hadn't, had he? So everything was going f-i-n-e, wasn't it? All she would have to do was wait another ten minutes or so until James returned to his human form, and if not… If not, she could always steal some antidote from Slughorn's cabinet. Or brew one herself if it didn't take too long. She was, after all quite a talented potion-maker, wasn't she? Right. So she knew what she was going to do. Now all she needed was time to clear her head. And keep a watchful eye on James…

"James!?" Lily's eyes filled with dismay as she realized that he wasn't in his place. Immediately she threw herself to the floor, scanning the ground for weird claws and hooves.

"Lily, what's up? Are you OK?" asked Alice, concerned.

"No!" she gasped. "I can't find him!"

Alice froze.

"Oh God," muttered Marlene. "He could be anywhere!"

"As if I didn't notice!" snarled Lily sarcastically.

"Alright, alright, no need to snap," grumbled Marlene under her breath—but Lily heard.

"No need to snap? I've just lost ages worth of studying time, I've turned James into a monster, I've _lost_ him—and now you bloody tell me not to snap!" exploded Lily.

"Don't worry Lils, we're going to find him and when we do he'll already be back to normal because it's now gone twenty minutes, see? So I'll start looking in our dorm, Marly will look in the boys' dorms and you'll continue searching here. Is that OK? Right let's go!" Alice said. She pulled Marlene's hand and made her go up the stairs before herself, but they needn't have bothered. Because at that moment, they could hear two girls screaming, "OH MY GOD WHAT'S THAT?!?!" outside the Gryffindor Tower. And all three knew exactly what "that" was.

_**END OF CHAPTER 11!**_


	12. A day to remember part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, much as I would love to.

Author's Note: First things first… where are my lovely reviewers? (Other than Sarah the Legend, of course.) Don't you want to read my story? (Looks hurt.) OK, I know I'm making a drama out of this but it's only because you have to have read the previous chapter to read this GREATLY AMAZING chapter of mine! LOL. Yeah, as you can guess I'm hyper… you might even be able to guess why… **Read and Review** this chapter please, tell me what you think. Sorry it goes on a bit at the end. I love y'all!

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Twelve: A day to remember part 2 (A true kiss)

Lily, Alice and Marlene rushed outside the portrait hole faster than you could say the word 'go'. Sprinting along the corridor at an extraordinarily high speed, Lily had to skid round the corner to stop herself from flying straight into the wall—consequently landing herself directly into the hands of one _unpleasantly_ surprised Minerva McGonagall.

"Professor!" Lily gasped, shocked. "I'm so sorry!" She backed off from the teacher.

"Do you have anything to do with this?" asked McGonagall sternly. She was standing next to Victoria and Rosmerta and was pointing at James.

Lily knew not to try her luck. Had she been someone like Sirius Black she might have lied and come up with some story, but she wasn't. She was Lily Marie Evans, the Head Girl. So she told the truth.

McGonagall didn't take it happily, of course. She didn't take it _un_happily, though, either. In fact she dealt with the whole matter very matter-of-factly.

"You'll have to take it—ah, him—to the Hospital Wing. Madam King has the closest thing to an antidote you can get here. Mr. Potter will be alright within two or three days, if a little uncomfortable in the meantime. If you have any Head duties to attend to while Mr. Potter is… indisposed, consult Mr. Lupin. I will inform him as soon as possible. But don't worry yourself too much, Miss Evans," said Professor McGonagall, with a curt kind of smile on her face, "you weren't to know that you performed a monster-creating spell."

Lily felt slightly guilty as McGonagall said these words, but it was shoved to the back of her mind when the bell rang, signifying that they had to get to their next lessons, and fast.

-xXx-

As soon as the lunch hour began, Lily hurried along to the Hospital Wing to see James (who was thankfully back in his human form).

"Oh, hello stranger," he smiled as he watched her walk in and over to his bed, "or shall I call you my tormentor?"

"Ha ha." She sat down on the edge of the bed, where James was sitting up. He looked OK, just a little peaky. "So how are you?"

"Fine on the whole. I was a bit shaken at first, considering that I _had_ just been turned into some beast, but you know," he replied, smirking.

"Yeah, about that… I'm _really _sorry. I think I said the wrong spell or something, because you taught me the right arm movements. Anyway, I didn't mean it. You know that, right? I didn't do it on purpose or—"

"Chill, Lily, it's nothing." James rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, there's no need to worry. Seriously. And of course I know it was a mistake."

Lily nodded slowly to herself. "Thanks," she said.

James smiled at her. "You know… I'm still sorry about what happened that time we were in the Head Common Room when McGonagall had left," he told her. He touched her hand, placing it into his.

Lily blushed. "It's fine."

"No really… I want to make it up to you," he whispered. He looked into Lily's eyes and she looked into his. He leaned closer, and so did she. He kissed her and she kissed him right back. A long, sweet, tender kiss. The kind of kiss that wakes a sleeping beauty. The perfect kiss. It was as if the air had stopped moving. As if all their pride and their prejudices had faded away—no boundaries, no rules, no right or wrong.

A true kiss.

-xXx-

Lily didn't tell Marlene and Alice when she returned to them some time later. She didn't want to—not yet, anyway. It was a secret, just between her and James—a connection, a bond.

Fortunately for her, they didn't ask where she'd been. Perhaps they'd suspected the whole thing, seen it coming. Perhaps they didn't realise she'd been to see James. But regardless—whatever their reasons may have been, they still didn't ask her so, as Lily thought, it really was all irrelevant. It seemed so to her, at least. Everything was irrelevant. It was as if her world was an ocean, underwater—slow-motion; beautiful; serene; peaceful, with a shimmering hopeful light waiting above. Lily Evans was in love.

"Miss Evans! Are you paying attention?"

It was Charms, the last lesson of the day. Now this was something she _was_ usually good at.

"Yes, Professor," she answered, "sorry." She quickly picked up her quill and copied down the notes from the board.

Professor Flitwick turned his back on them to write down some more. "Now this charm may appear to be a simple on, but don't be fooled. It comes in many different forms so you must know which is which and what function each does. To start off, we have the…" As Lily tried to listen and write notes, as small paper aeroplane hit her on the back of her head. She turned around. Sirius Black was looking at her. "Look at the plane," he mouthed, gesturing at it. Lily nodded, and picked it up before unfolding it. In the middle Sirius' scruffy writing read, "_What did you do to James this morning (in the free period)?_" Lily smiled to herself. It seemed such a long time ago now, yet it was only a few hours. "_You'll find out,_" she wrote in reply, and sent the plane back to its creator with a tap of her wand.

The rest of the lesson flew by. After finishing the notes, the class set about practising the charm themselves in pairs. Lily went with Marlene (who was wisely still keeping her mouth shut when it came to asking questions about how Lily had spend her lunch hour) while Alice and Frank partnered up.

"So do you know who's going to France yet?" asked Marlene as she performed the charm on Lily.

"France?"

"Yeah, you know, Beauxbatons."

"Oh, that. No, we don't know yet. Good point, though, I'll ask Professor McGonagall the next time I see her," Lily replied.

"But you're still going to go, right? As Head Girl?"

"I think so."

"And do you want to?"

The question threw Lily. What was Marlene trying to say? "Well, why wouldn't I?"

Marlene shrugged. "I dunno. Just what with Jacques being there and all…"

"I'm not letting him back into my life, Marly. He's the past , and that's how he's going to stay. What we had was good at the time, but I've moved on since then and I'm sure he has too. And for gods' sakes don't look at me like that, Marlene! And why are you laughing?!"

"Sorry," spluttered Marlene, giggling, "it's just the look on your face when you said that. You remind me of my mum!"

"Fantastic," Lily said sarcastically, but she didn't mind really.

"Yes, that _was_ indeed a fantastic Mobility Charm, Miss McKinnon! Well done!" Professor Flitwick had joined them, and was excitedly clapping his hands together. "Now let's see you try, Miss Evans!" Lily demonstrated her charm and, having declared her to have "excellent potential of achieving an 'O' at NEWTs" Flitwick tootled off.

"You know, I never really asked you about you and Sirius, did I?" Lily wondered out loud to Marlene. "So what is it with you?"

Her friend sighed. "I don't know. I mean, we kissed, but we never went on a _date_, did we? We're not officially a couple. And God knows how many girls Sirius kisses."

"Don't worry. He'll come to his senses soon and ask you out. After all, he _has_ liked you for ages." At this, Marlene perked up.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, isn't it obvious? That's why he's never asked Victoria out even though she'd have him and that's why he's not yet had a girlfriend this term—"

"That's true. Normally by now he would have dated at _least_ three girls, knowing him," laughed Marlene. Lily grinned.

"I bet you he will have asked you out before…"

"I'm ninety?"

"…before I give you a Christmas card this year."

"Ha! You'll give it to me late!"

"No I won't. I never give Christmas cards late."

"Or so you say."

"So are we on?"  
Marlene hesitated. "Well… maybe I…" She caught Sirius' eye as she looked up. She blushed and turned back to Lily. "OK, I bet you five Galleons."

"Why so much?"

"A consolation win of five Galleons will cheer me up if he doesn't."

Lily laughed. "OK then."

-xXx-

Once all their lessons were finished Lily returned to the Hospital Wing to see James, not forgetting to stop by McGonagall's office on the way. The lists where people could sign up to go to Beauxbatons were going to be put up tomorrow, she was told. Apparently the teachers would decide from there if the pupil could go or not, which Lily thought was slightly unfair but, as McGonagall assured her, there were many places to be filled. It was open to any fifth, sixth and seventh years that wanted to go—but most of the student population didn't speak French and although most Beauxbatons pupils spoke English, the idea wasn't quite as tempting as it might have first appeared. Still, many people were interested in going, so the teachers had gauged the number of people wanting to go pretty accurately.

She didn't know why she was going to see James again. It occurred to her once or twice that she might look like she was a bit—well, _desperate_, really. She hoped not. She didn't want to become one of those girls that were always running after boys, worrying about what their friends or boyfriends (if they had one) thought of them… But it was OK, because that wasn't going to happen, Lily reassured herself.

"What's not going to happen?"

Lily was shocked to find herself standing in the Hospital Wing, with James sitting up and watching her. Did she really say that out loud?  
"Nothing," she quickly said.

"Thanks for coming to see me, by the way," James said, diplomatically changing the subject.

"Oh yeah—that reminds me…" Lily rummaged in her bag until she brought out a bulging napkin with something wrapped inside. "Here, food for you. I nicked it from the Great Hall straight after I left you at lunchtime."

James took it gratefully. "I can't tell you how much I've been needing this," he said. "All they give me here is rabbit food."

"Thought so."

He looked up and smiled. "It's been one weird day today."

Lily smiled too. "You could say that."

"It's also been one of the best, if not _the_ best day, in my life."

"A day to remember…"

"Yes. A day to remember."

_**END OF CHAPTER 12!**_

**PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! Thanks!**


	13. That odd feeling

Disclaimer: I may not own any characters you recognise, i.e. Lily and James, but I do in fact own Jacques. :P

Author's Note: OK, so, here we are. On chapter THIRTEEN! Wow. I can't believe I've made it this far, LOL. Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks for people that have reviewed on previous chapters, you're all great. Erm, oh yeah, I remembered! This chapter isn't very well-written, apologies, and it may not make sense in places as I've had writer's block for the first time and didn't know what to put. However, I assure you that things may sound random now, but they will make sense later on in the story. Please please **review** for me. Love y'all!

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Thirteen: That odd feeling

"How do I look?" Lily asked her friends nervously. "And be honest."

"You look stunning," said Victoria, who was sitting on the edge of Lily's bed.

"Yeah, you'll knock him dead," added Rosmerta, who was next to Victoria. In the corner of the room, Marlene gave Lily a thumbs-up and Alice, who was holding a large mirror for Lily, had a huge grin plastered across her face. _Thank God_, thought Lily.

She was going on a date with James tonight. A proper date. He had come out of the Hospital Wing two days ago, and they had arranged it then. _Seven o'clock, Heads' Common Room, be there or be square, _were his exact words. Lily laughed softly to herself. She never would have imagined herself being like this—anxious, nervous, and incredibly excited—say, a few months ago. But that was then, wasn't it? The past. And now was the present, and things were different. She was different. Wearing Muggle clothes was a start—not something entirely new for her, of course, but at Hogwarts it all felt so… strange; unusual. She was wearing a long, wine-red skirt and a fitted white top that had been a birthday present from Marlene ages ago. It was amazing that by simply wearing different clothes she felt like this.

"So are you ready?" asked Alice. Lily took a deep breath and nodded.

"Out with you then," grinned Marlene.

Five minutes later, Lily found herself outside the Heads' Common Room. Nervously, she muttered the password before entering the room.

She let out a small gasp of amazement as she stepped inside. The room looked so different. Before it had been plain and office-like, but now it was decorates with candles everywhere. In the centre stood a small wooden table with two chairs either side of it and a single rose lying on top. The overall effect was truly enchanting.

And then there was the smell. Not a fragrance, but the warming aroma of cooking, _good _cooking. Lily closed her eyes, taking it all in for a few moments. She felt two hands around her waist and opened her eyes to find James standing behind her, smiling.

"Hello my Lily flower," he said.

"Hello my chef," she replied sweetly back. James was wearing an apron and it was obvious he had been cooking.

"How are you?" he asked, placing one of her hands in his and leading her to the table in the middle of the room. He picked the rose up from it and held it out to Lily.

"Breathtaken," she breathed, taking the rose gently from his fingers. "You?"

"Breathtaken," he replied. "You look beautiful."

Lily blushed. "Thanks."

James pulled her closer to him and hugged her. After a few moments, he broke away. "So, I'm guessing you're hungry?'

She nodded, smiling. He grinned back and walked out of the room to the kitchenette next door, before returning with the meal he had cooked for them.

"I hope you like spaghetti bolognaise," he said.

"I do indeed."

"Good; it's the only thing I can cook."

Lily laughed. "Oh, well then I'll have to teach you to cook some other meals then."

"And I'll have to teach you to play Quidditch."

Lily stopped and scoffed. "You have got to be joking. I can't even fly."

"In that case, there's lots to learn so we better start soon," replied James, "but whatever; let's leave that for another day. Now, let's eat!"

They smiled at each other, and sat down. James poured her a drink, then himself. He picked up his glass and looked deep into her green eyes. "To you."

She shook her head, before taking her own glass into her hand and holding it up. "It's you that made this evening. It should be to you."

"No, don't say that. Come on, let's make it to us."

"Fine," agreed Lily. "To us."

"To us."

-xXx-

"It was so romantic," gushed Lily to her friends some hours later. They were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room, in front of the hearth . Lily was curled up in one of the armchairs, in her pyjamas with her hands clasped around a mug of hot chocolate; Marlene and Alice were too in their nightwear and drinking cocoa, though perhaps doing so a little more sleepily. "It was so obvious he'd made an effort."

"He's in love with you Lily, what do you expect," muttered Marlene wearily. "Of course he's going to make an effort."

Lily felt butterflies in her stomach; but they weren't of apprehension. The thought of James not just liking her, but _loving_ her… it was something she couldn't quite contemplate, something that made her feel and undescribable surge of happiness. Did he love her? If he did, well then… then…

"I'm going to bed," yawned Alice, interrupting Lily's train of thoughts—or was it daydreams? She couldn't tell any more. Everything to do with James recently was starting to feel unreal; but in a good way.

"I might go too—you coming, Lils?"

Lily hesitated. "No, it's OK," she replied eventually. "You go up, I'll join you in a minute." Marlene nodded, and she and Alice made their way upstairs to the dormitory. Meanwhile, Lily thought about the wonderful time she'd had earlier, reflecting and thinking about James—yet not knowing what to think at the same time. If only she could get into his mind somehow… But then again, how would she like it if her knew all of her thoughts? _Don't be silly_, she silently told herself. _There's no way you could get into his mind in the first place. Leave it. _Now she thought about it, there was one way: Veritaserum. Though of course there was no way she'd use that on anyone, and there was no way James would use it on anybody…or was there? _Stop being absurd. He wouldn't do that. _It was possible, though, wasn't it? _Sure. As if. It's all that fatigue and love, getting to your head, that's all… _But was it love? Lily didn't know if she loves James. She liked him a lot, appreciated him, cared for him; loved him? That was a different matter…

"Mind if I sit here?'

Lily was brought back to reality by the sound of a male voice. She looked up eagerly, but it was Sirius, not James. He was looking right at her, and indicated to the armchair next to hers.

"Er, no," she replied. "No, go ahead."

Sirius gave a nod and took a seat. "So, did you have a good time with James earlier?'

It was Lily's turn to nod this time. "Yeah, brilliant. He's amazing. It's just incredible how much he's changed in such a short space of time; he's so different."

"I've changed," said Sirius suddenly. "I've changed more than James has."

Lily didn't know what to say; she just shrugged. What was he trying to tell her? Boys were always saying they found girls complicated, but Lily found them just as complicated themselves, if not more so.

"You know, Lily…" Sirius began. He looked hesitant, apprehensive. He leaned forward a little.

"Yes…?"

"Well, you know how—" Sirius stopped abruptly as the pair heard another person's voice, and this time it was James'.

"Hey, Padfoot, hey, Lily! What are you two talking about?" James appeared to be full of energy. He had obviously brightened up at the sight of Lily. He smiled broadly and sat himself on the armrest of Lily's chair. She stood up.

"Nothing," she said. "I was just going to bed. Night James."

He looked concerned. "Are you OK?' he asked.

"I'm fine, just tired. Night." Lily left, leaving a startled James and silent Sirius. She went up quickly, for some reason. She wasn't sure about what Sirius wanted to talk to her about—most likely Marlene though—but nevertheless, she felt, oddly, that she didn't want to hear it. _Strange_, she thought. Probably because she'd had a long day and was tired.

Only, that didn't explain why she couldn't get to sleep until a long time afterwards…

**_END OF CHAPTER 13!_**HHis m


	14. The only way

Disclaimer: I may not own any characters you recognise, i.e. Lily and James, but I do in fact own Jacques. :P

Author's Note: **PLEASE READ IMPORTANT! **OK, so it may not be appealing the read the whole of this chapter, but it is **vital **for the storyline; if you don't read it you may be confused and it will al be ruined. So please read this chapter carefully, and don't forget to review! P.S. it's much better written than last chapter!

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Fourteen: The only way

It was a few days before the Beauxbatons exchange trip. Weeks spent with James had flown by, and Marlene and Sirius had officially got together. Alice and Frank were as much in love with each other as ever, and as for Remus—he had, much to everybody's surprise, started flirting with a younger student called Nymphadora Tonks. Snow had begun to fall on the castle, and everyone was in a cheery mood. That is, everyone except from one girl…

Sonia Rambrick had had a lot on her mind recently. To start off, her studies suddenly seemed to be getting a lot harder and she'd had trouble keeping up, especially Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Then there was the fact that she was trying to teach herself French for the exchange trip, using only a very heavy book called _A la Francaise! The Wizard's Favourite Guide to Foreign Languages_. Not only that, but she had to decide what to wear for the Christmas Ball, and it had to be good. Never mind good, it had to be stunning. It was the only way.

She needed to do it, to impress him. Prove that she was the one, that she was better than that pitiful Lily Evans. Get his attention and make him appreciate her, _want_ her.

It was the only way.

She had started liking James Potter quite a long time ago. Probably at about the same time he had fallen in love with Lily. She had tried getting his attention, but nothing had worked. Not yet. So she'd thought about it, had a really good long think. And then she had come up her solution.

It wasn't too complicated. She realised a few months ago, when Rosmerta and Victoria had asked for her help—help getting Lily to fall in love with James, _her_ one true love. She'd refused, naturally. That had been her downfall; she had told the pair about her love of James. But never mind, they were probably too think to remember now anyway. Nevertheless, her plan _would_ work. She was sure of it. And it was all thanks to one person…

Many people knew of Lily and Jacques' relationship at the time. Sonia had been one of them. In fact, she had known a lot about it—how Jacques, the new French guy, had come to England against his will; how Lily helped him through his struggle of adjusting to his new life, and had saved him; how they had fallen for each other and been devastated when Jacques had to move back to France—and how James Potter had been left brokenhearted, jealous and destructive. Oh she knew. She had helped James get his life back on track—in every Herbology lesson they shared, she would go over to him and comfort him. Only, he hadn't fallen for her then. And that was why she could be sure he would do now.

James despised Jacques. Lily hadn't ever gotten over Jacques. Simple, really. All Sonia had to do was ensure Lily went to the Ball with Jacques, and at last minute too—leaving James without a partner. She, Sonia, would go over to him; talk to him, make him feel good, offer him a drink or two, and manipulate his mind so that he got mad at Lily. It wouldn't be that difficult. And then, convince him to dump Lily.

Simple, really.

Now to put this plan into action, Sonia needed to obtain a fair amount of alcohol to spike James' drink with. That she had already dealt with—a favour-owing friend of hers had smuggled some Firewhisky and wine into the school. But that still left one matter: her outfit. She needed something that stood out from the crowd, something glamorous. A strong colour, perhaps. She had mousey-brown hair, medium-tone skin and blue eyes—maybe a bright blue dress, with a diamond necklace?

Regardless, she would sort that out soon enough. After all, the main thing was the issue of James—and as soon as she sorted out what dress to wear, everything was going to be _just right._

Simple, really.

-xXx-

Lily was starting to get really excited about the whole France trip. OK, so she would be going without James, but maybe a week-long break could be beneficial. But she longed to go to Beauxbatons; it was just a place she had always wanted to visit. She had heard tales of what it was like, especially the Christmas decorations. She remembered the stories of enchanted chambers, hidden rooms and fountains of ice that Jacques had told her.

And as for Jacques—well, Lily had promised herself not to get involved. If he approached her, she would be polite and friendly, but nothing more. If he ignored her, then she could just ignore him right back.

Her only problem was the fact that James was well aware of Jacques being at Beauxbatons. He had told her he trusted her, but how much she did not know. She had of course assured him that he was worrying about nothing—not that he had told her of his concern, but she could tell—and that she would be thinking of him. Which she knew she would be.

She had packed half her things already, and was going to pack the rest tomorrow. She wasn't taking much—just the usual (clothes, toiletries, a photograph of her parents), as well as a blank notebook that she could use as a diary if she wanted, or rip pages out of to write letters to friends and family. Marlene and Alice were sadly not going.

She wasn't as organised for the Ball, though—after all, it was James' responsibility now and not hers—and hadn't yet decided on a dress to wear. The silver one in Hogsmeade wasn't an option and it was the only thing she had liked. However Victoria, being the "fashion expert" she was, had received a catalogue from Diagon Alley's dressmaking shop, and showed it to Lily. Well, tried to. Lily hadn't really been listening or looking, more like _pretended _to have been, but she would have a look later on. She was rather looking forward to it now, actually. And once that was done, everything was going to be just fine. France was going to be great, and the Ball would be fantastic. Everything was going to be _just fine._

Wasn't it?

**_END OF CHAPTER 14!_**HHis m


	15. When dreams become nightmares

Author's Note: Hey, it's me. For the first time in ages. Let me first say that I'm very sorry for not updating in such a long time, and I'm also sorry that this chapter isn't great. But it is vital for the storyline, so you have to read it.  HAHA. Anyways. I also wanted to say that Beauxbatons IS for boys as well as girls! Read the fourth book again if you don't believe me. Also, please review. It would mean a LOT to me. Thankyou.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all etc etc don't belong to me etc. (LOL)

**Love or Hate: **

**The Tale of Red Snitch **

Chapter Fifteen: When dreams become nightmares

"…and because we 'ere love ze French cuisine so much, we 'ave a special routine for ze lunch-time…" Madame Maxime cleared her throat, "weech consists of ze pupils coming to ze…"

_The blah_, thought Lily irritably. Madame Maxime's welcome speech to the Hogwarts students was taking a long time, and seemed rather unnecessary to Lily. They had been told that the Head Boy and Girl here would show them where they needed to go, as Lily and James would when they came to Hogwarts. Lily had meat them already: Marion, the Head Girl, was very friendly, and Pierre, the Head Boy, seemed the clever type and was extraordinarily quick-witted. So far everything had been going well, and Lily found herself very excited. She was sure this trip was going to be a good one. The journey had gone well, with the exception of one girl having motion sickness, and the Beauxbatons students had made them feel comfortably welcome. And the school itself was certainly something to look at: marble floors, the famous statues of never-melting ice, crystal chandeliers, numerous mirrors… it was definitely a place where appearance mattered. Which was fine by Lily, for the moment. _It's a shame the Ball isn't going to be here, _she thought, _it would be so romantic. _Apart from the fact that all her friends and James weren't here. But if they were…

Lily and James would be dancing, sweeping across the pristine marble floors. The song would end and, smiling at her, James would lead her outside to the frost-covered gardens. They would cross the crisp blanket of snow carefully and come to the mistletoe-draped wooden archway Lily had seen earlier. She would be shivering in her dress and James would give her his coat and warp his arms around her. He would murmur something soft in her ear; something funny that would make her laugh. He would hug her more tightly, and one of his hands would run through her long hair. She would whisper to him, "Don't let go." He would whisper back, "I won't." They would smile at each other, but it wouldn't just be any old smile. It would be a smile of pure happiness, and it would last forever.

The sound of clapping around her made Lily return to reality from her romantic fantasies. Madame Maxime had stepped down, obviously having finished her welcome speech. Everybody was looking thrilled, but judging from their expressions, for different reasons. While the Beauxbatons students were looking proud of their headmistress, Lily's fellow pupils seemed to be more glad that the speech was over than anything else. And Lily knew who she agreed with the most!

-xXx-

It hadn't been worth the wait, either. Far from what Lily expected the food to be, Beauxbatons' less-than-hearty portions of what looked like the opposite of French cuisine weren't exactly what you'd call satisfying. _No wonder they're all so thin here, _thought Lily. She was going to miss Hogwarts' filling meals. Still, at least this way she wouldn't have any problems getting into her dress for the ball.

She had managed to choose one, finally. A really nice one, one that suited her even more than the grey one from before. She couldn't wait for James to see her in it; and she was equally excited to see Alice and Marlene in their dresses too. Marlene especially, as she hadn't told Lily anything about her dress yet, and, knowing Marlene, it would probably turn out to be something frivolous. Which Lily could just not miss out on.

Anyway. All that was over a week away. At the moment Lily was still at Beauxbatons and she was determined to make the best of the trip, big portions or not. Though if she had her way, it would be big portions.

-xXx-

Later that night, Lily went to bed feeling very confused. She was torn. She knew it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't help feeling guilty and ashamed about it. It _was_ her fault, she felt. But how was she to know? How could she have known? Why didn't she know? And why did this thing, so wrong as it was, feel so… right?

She was to blame, she decided. It was her fault for being so damned nice all the time. But perhaps there was a solution. Maybe there was a way out of this seemingly sticky and horrible situation. There would be a light at the end of this dark tunnel. But she knew it would be a long time before she reached it.

She had met Jacques as she was leaving the Hall, after having talked to Madame Maxime and the Head Girl, Marion. Jacques had come up to her out of nowhere and greeted her. So Lily had freaked out. She had swept across the pristine marble floors. Jacques, wide-eyed and looking surprised, had followed her. They had gone outside to the frost-covered gardens. They had crossed the crisp blanket of snow and come to the mistletoe-draped wooden archway, when Lily realized that she couldn't just run away like this. Besides, what was the crime in meeting an ex? She and Jacques had finished a long time ago. It wasn't as if anything was going to happen.

"Lily," Jacques had called. He came to the archway and stopped. Lily's breath had been a cloud of white in the cold; but then, so was his. Jacques had come closer. "Lily, you are shivering," he had said. He'd taken off his coat and placed it round Lily's unmoving shoulders. Lily, not knowing what to do, had shrugged it off, and the coat had fallen down onto the snow. Jacques had stepped closer to Lily, and wrapped his arms around her. She stood still, rigid.

"Lily, what is up?" Jacques had asked. She had not replied, but in the end broke down.

"I'm sorry," she'd whispered. And that's where it had all gone wrong. They'd talked, and Lily told Jacques about James. How had he reacted? He hadn't. He just stood there, soaking it all up and being understanding. Lily hated him for that. But she hated him more when he'd asked her to the ball.

She'd said no, of course. James was taking her. That's when Jacques got the better of her. That's when Lily realized that James hadn't actually asked her. That's when Jacques tried to kiss her, tried so hard—and _that's_ when she'd given in.

So that was her sticky situation—Jacques, not James, was taking her to the ball.

Lily needed help.

_**END OF CHAPTER 15!**_HHis m


	16. Je t'adore

Author's Note: Hello people. First I want to say a **HUGE** thank-you to all those that reviewed, it means a lot to me. After all, what's the point in putting a story on FF if nobody going to read & review it? OK and secondly, this chapter isn't that great. I'm sorry about that. It's a sorta filler-chappie, but to be honest you can't expect much more from me at the moment. I should be revising for exams which start in less than a week, so even if you really hated it no flames today please! (Though you are justified for all of the other chapters, obviously.) So apologies for the shortness. But have no fear, I've got LOADS more planned, just you wait. LOADS. Anyways please please **PLEASE REVIEW **…and that's it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, etc.

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Sixteen: Je t'adore

Lily awoke early the next morning to find a large barn owl flapping its wings in her face. Slowly, she rubbed her eyes. "Wassit," she groaned. The owl dropped a letter onto the pillow, next to her. Curiously, Lily took it into her hand, ripped off the envelope and began to read.

_Hey Lily!_

_It's us—Marlene, Alice and James (never thought I'd write that! It's Marlene writing by the way). We just all wanted to say hi and how was the journey, and hope you like France!_

_James' idea by the way. He's so in luurve with you. HAHA. By the way, Sirius says hi too. He also says to bring back alcohol for the Ball, or afterwards anyways. He and James are hosting a post-Ball party in the Common Room. Anyway… (god I say that WAY too much!) have fun! See ya, Marly xXx_

_Yeah, but don't just bring back __stupid__ alcohol! Buy us some chocolates, will you. Those ones you brought back from your last trip to France were GORGEOUS. Ha, like I always say—the continent is the best place for rich, dark chocolates—AND men! Erm.. __just kidding__! (Phew, that was Frank watching!)- Love, Alice 3_

_My turn at last! Hello my Lilyflower. I'm missing you already. How's France? Can you remember any French? Knowing you, you probably do… But guess what! I learned some too… OK only a little… my new way of signing letters to you from now on (not that I really had one before, but you know). So, looking forward to seeing you at the Ball.. Je t'adore, James. xxx_

_P.S. From Marlene—isn't he so sweet to you? Young love. X_

Lily allowed to the letter to drop from her hands. She felt so guilty, and sort of left out too… Marlene was right, James was so sweet to her. And what was she doing? She was throwing it back in his face. _What can I do? _she thought desperately. Perhaps she could make a deal with Jacques. If he loved her, he would do anything for her—right? Or if that didn't work, she could tell a teacher that he was threatening her. Or even, get his friends to convince him otherwise. Or maybe all she had to do was talk to him and sort this whole thing out. After all, James was right. She _did _know a lot of French. And Jacques knew quite a bit of English. Lily would make him understand, make him see sense. He wasn't totally heartless, after all. Especially not if he really cared that much.

_So that's sorted, _thought Lily. Now all she needed to do was write a letter back, and that was easy enough.

_Dear James, Alice, Marlene & everyone…_

_France is just great. This place is like a palace. And yes, the journey was fine. I don't know about bringing stuff back though. I can try—I'm counting on a day out to get some stuff, and sure, I'll get some chocolates for you if you want—if I can. But I'm not making any promises. It's good to hear things are alright over there._

_James—the post-Ball party sounds like a good idea. And I do remember a lot of my French. Thanks for the French on your part as well—but do you know, "te amo"?_

_Marlene—stop teashing me. Actually, don't. I'll have more fun teasing you back. Sirius is so in luuuuurve with you. Ha! I will have fun._

_Alice—you'll get your chocolates IF you're lucky. I'm just hoping I've got the money; they're quite expensive you know. _

_I love you all! James, je t'adore! Love from, LILY –xxx-_

**END OF CHAPITRE SEIZE!**

**(The French Tradition Is Back!)**


	17. Tales of another lifetime

Author's Note: A great thank-you to everybody that has reviewed. Please keep them coming! I promise to update more often! Also, I kinda got bored and skipped out a few days… meh, well, you can hardly blame me. (Well, you can, but whatever.) I'm also hoping to add more to "The Great Rivalry" so check that out if you have time. And, I was thinking, I want to finish "Love or Hate" soon…. Not too soon though! It's got to be at the end of the year, right, but I guess that's OK as the only major scenes/ actions parts/ significant events are during the Christmas bit. So once that's done I could perhaps fast-forward the story to like…. Well, whenever. Please tell me what you think of this idea. Oh and of course—**PLEASE REVIEW**!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, blah de blah. Though this isn't that closely related to it, but w/e.

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Seventeen: Tales of another lifetime

It was the last day of the French trip. The days had flown by, full of fun and adventure. Most of the Hogwarts students on the trip had not been to France before and none of them had visited Beauxbatons before. Their hosts were equally excited and spent their time finding as many ways as possible to entertain their guests. A party, a midnight trail in the nearby forest, sports, trips out, even a fashion show—it was certainly very different to what they'd expected!

Despite all the fun she was having, though, Lily Evans' mind was not at peace. She had not yet had an opportunity to talk to Jacques about the Ball and was dreading having to do it. Still, it had to be done. _Had_ to be. Nevertheless, Lily had been thinking. Surely James, who knew that she liked him so much, would understand? James could be pretty understanding when he wanted to be… the question was, would he want to be?

She'd make him see sense. She'd make both of them see sense. And at the end of the day, it was only some stupid Ball. Sure, it would be fun, exciting, whatever. But it didn't necessarily mean anything. After all, even if she did go with Jacques she would be able to spend time with James, right? She could even try to lose Jacques—get Sirius to lock him in a broom cupboard or something. Lily laughed softly to herself at the idea; in her head she could easily picture the situation.

"Lily, come, look!"

Lily, who was sitting on the edge of her bed, turned around to see Katelyn Greaves, a sixth-year Ravenclaw she'd been sharing a room with for the trip, standing at the doorway and pointing to the window. Lily slowly got up and followed the direction of Katelyn's gaze—fireworks outside, beautiful bursts of colour sparkling in the dark night sky. She watched for a moment, absorbed by the splendour, the unusual shapes they were making and the bright glittering flames. It was a wonder she hadn't spotted them earlier—but then, she'd been in deep thought, and wasn't the kind of person that was easily distracted.

"Can we go outside?" asked Katelyn pleadingly. "I really want to see them properly."

"Sure, let's go," replied Lily. She grabbed her cardigan and followed Katelyn down the stairs, through the front doors and outside where a huge crowd was gathered. By them was a massive fire, flames licking the darkness of the night and sparks flying off in all directions.

"This is wonderful," said Lily. She stood by the fire, warming herself and watching the fireworks in awe. The crowd ooh-ed and aah-ed as each one went off, and each one was different. There were purple stars, green stars, a rainbow of every colour imaginable, silver drops, blue shapes that resembled animals; there was even the French flag in the appropriate colours. They were all entranced.

"Isn't this amazing?" Lily said to Katelyn. Behind her a warm hand held her round the waist.

"Yes," said Jacques. "It is very amazing."

Lily spun around to face him. "What are you doing here?"

"Zis is my school, Lily," he replied. He looked uneasy, as if he wanted to get something off his chest. Taking a deep breath, he spoke the words: "I love you, Lily."

She was momentarily speechless. However, after a few seconds she regained her composure. "I… Oh… I… Oh I'm so sorry… Jacques, I need to talk to you. It's about the Ball. I'm sorry but—"

Lily was interrupted by a firework going off so loudly she was convinced it was an explosion. Her mouth dropped as she looked up and there, in the sky, were sparkling letters resembling the words "I love you, Lily". She felt every eye upon her. _Oh my God. _Very aware she was being watched, she turned back to Jacques—to find he had disappeared into the night.

Gone.

**END OF CHAPITRE DIX-SEPT!**

**Please Review!**

(And tell me if you liked it!)


	18. Trouble brewing

Author's Note: Well, well! Book 7 read & completed! I loved it! However it does alter this story a little—what with Lily and 'Sev'—but never mind. I've decided to continue this story as it was before, otherwise it would probably be ruined. Nevertheless, I've changed my ideas a _little_ and have chosen to include part of JKR's ideas in the story—giving credit where credit is due, obviously, she never actually wrote what I will write. Anyway, please support me and review! Oh and many thanks to my fabulous reviewers—it will pay off! The last few chapters are practically nothing to what is coming! (Lol) xx Liz

Disclaimer: You know it. Harry Potter isn't mine, etc.

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Eighteen: Trouble brewing

They were back.

"Lily!" cried Alice, running up to the redhead and throwing her into a hug. "How are you?"

This question was echoed by Marlene, who was smiling tentatively at her friend. Next to her stood Sirius, looking rather cheerful, with James, who seemed downright ecstatic. James leaned forward to Lily and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey you," he murmured.

"James, I need to talk to y--"

"Evans."

Lily turned round to see none other than Severus Snape. She glared at him.

"What?" she said fiercely. Severus seemed to wince and returned to her a look of mutual dislike.

"Watch out," he muttered quietly, thinking that nobody but Lily could hear him—but he was wrong. They all heard. "There's trouble brewing. Get out before it's too late." And without another word, he turned his back on the Gryffindors and walked away.

"Stupid git," snarled James. "How dare he say that to you? Lily, has he been saying stuff before? If he does it again I'm going to--"

"No you won't," stated Lily. She looked angry. "James, don't touch him. Leaving him alone is what you're going to do."

James looked stunned for a second. Then he went slightly pink. Lily hated to think what emotions must be whirling inside his mind right now.

"James, I need to talk to you," she said again.

James ignored her. The whole place seemed to be eerily quiet, as if they were holding their breaths. "Come, Sirius, let's take Lily's bags. We can't stand around here all day."

Sirius, perhaps sensing it was better not to argue, perhaps not minding taking Lily's bags, picked them up and snatched a glance at her before he and James left.

"Where's Remus?" asked Lily. She had not seen him anywhere.

"Frank says Remus told him he was visiting his mother again," said Alice softly, as if she did not want to anger Lily.

"What time is it?"

"Um, quarter past seven," replied Marlene.

Lily's face dropped. "Merlin! Already? I have to go look after the French students! I'm late! Alice, Marlene, I need to talk to you when I get back, and James—actually, James should be coming with me! JAMES?!"

Marlene shook her head, amused, as Lily ran off out of sight, her red hair flying behind her. "That poor girl. To think with those brains and her humour—she could be a real troublemaker and get away with it. But no, she's Head Girl."

Alice laughed. "You sound like James and Sirius," she said. Then, in a lower, more serious tone, "Marly, I think you're spending too much time with him. And you know it too. You never seem to have much time for me any more. It's always you and Sirius, Sirius and you. Or if it's not that it's you and Lily."

Marlene regarded her friend with incredulity. She looked murderous. "Oh yeah, as if you don't spend any time with Frank!" she snapped sarcastically, and probably a little more loudly than she had thought. "But I forgot, it's you being left out isn't it? It's always poor little Alice that gets left out from all her friends. Because they're all mean, they don't like her any more, they're obviously the bad ones! Oh, if only--"

"Marly, I didn't mean--!"

"Of course you did," growled Marlene contemptuously. "You've been nagging me all week. Trying to get me on my own. Well, now you know what it was like for us when you went off with Frank. You know, Alice, I've got plenty of my own problems! It's not like--"

"You never share them with me," interrupted Alice. "I've not heard anything about your problems before. Can't you see—we're growing apart! You're not confiding in me any more! You don't trust me! I'm telling you—it's because of Sirius! Look what he's done to you! He's OK, he's a nice guy, but he's so manipulative. I think it would be better if you hadn't been together for so long, can't you see--"

Alice stopped; Marlene had burst into tears. She felt helpless for a second, before gently putting an arm around Marlene. "Come on, let's get into Gryffindor Tower—we can talk in our dormitory," she said quietly, soothingly. "Let's get out of here. I have the feeling Snape's right—trouble is brewing."

**END OF CHAPITRE DIX-HUIT!**

**Please Review!**


	19. The list

Author's Note: Chapter 19 is up! With 20 coming! I'm so happy! Thanks goes to all fabulous reviewers, thank you so much! PLEASE REVIEW!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter etc.

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Nineteen: The list

Lily still had not talked to James about the situation she found herself in; she had not yet had an opportunity to do so. If truth be told, though, she was not looking forward to it. Not only would she be the bringer of bad news, but she had no idea how to solve her problem, and the incident with Severus Snape would, if it had not already, make things worse. Severus was right: trouble was brewing. And if she wasn't careful, she would be in the midst of it.

Oh God. What was she to do? Snape had made things even more complicated. How could she break the news to James that she was to go with another guy to the Ball (for the saw no way of solving it) when he probably already distrusted her? He knew little of her past friendship with Severus, although having once stated that "Snivellus" fancied her. Lily admittedly had never liked Severus as anything more than a friend, and now they weren't even friends she wondered whether they liked each other at all. Still, Severus evidently did care for her—he had, after all, warned her. Unless he had ulterior motives… Lily did not doubt that his involvement with his Death Eater friends and the Dark Arts could have changed the boy she had once known so well, to become a mere stranger to her.

Lily shook her head sadly. She was, for now, alone in the dormitory. Snow was falling gently outside the window: she could tell it was indeed going to be a white Christmas. Whether it was to be a merry one, though, she did not know. She was of course staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, as was everybody else: Sirius and James had spent every Christmas together since Sirius' parents had disinherited him, and this year they decided to stay at school. Marlene and Alice, too, had chosen to stay put at Hogwarts—as did pretty much the rest of the school. This was almost certainly due to the upcoming Christmas Ball, to be taking place during the holidays. Everybody was growing rather excited about it. The buzz of it was infectious; it seemed every student was talking about it—Lily had heard them all when she had passed a crowd of fellow Hogwartians whilst in a corridor.

Lily's musings were interrupted by Alice and Marlene, who were rapidly talking as they entered the dormitory.

"It's going to be fine, I swear--"

"Yes, but--"

"And besides it's not like--"

"Not like what?"

"Not like—Lily! Hey!"

They had at last noticed their friend, who was quite still. Half of her was continuing her previous train of thoughts; the other half was curious to know what her two best friends had been talking about.

"Hey guys," smiled Lily. "What's up?"

Marlene crossed to the other side of the room, where her trunk was. She seemed to be holding something in her hand. After a moment or two, in which Lily was sure Marlene was putting away whatever it was that she had been holding, Marlene spoke.

"It's… there's a lot to tell you, Lily… while you've been away, I—well, it's hard to explain, most of it's irrelevant anyway… it's just… oh, Lily, I really want to tell you but it's so h-hard…" To Lily's amazement, Marlene gulped as if she was trying to hold back tears.

"It's okay," she said gently, trying to comfort her friend, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I do want to, though," replied Marlene in a trembling voice, "but I can't be sure… I'll tell you when I find out… when I know."

"Alright then," said Lily, none the wiser. She felt worried—what could it be that was troubling her friend so much? And Marlene normally confided in Lily about everything… had things really changed in her short absence? She, Lily, could tell and told both her friends everything… this reminded her that she had not yet told them about Jacques and the Ball.

"There's something I need to tell you guys too," began Lily and she launched into an explanation of what had happened. Despite her anxious demeanour and emphasis on how this was such a huge problem, though, her friends did not look terribly worried.

"Easy solved," Marlene managed a small smile, "Put your and James' names down on the list—"

"List? What list?"

"—and stop Jacques changing them until after the deadline, when he can't!" Marlene looked optimistic. Clearly her involvement with Lily's dilemma was taking her mind off her own troubles. Lily, however, was not so sure. She had no idea of what "the list" was, and felt she ought to. "But what is the list?" she asked again.

"The list is for the Ball—everybody who is going writes their name down next to their partner's. That way they know how many tables and chairs are needed, how much food to prepare—that sort of thing," explained Alice.

"How come I didn't know about it? I'm Head Girl!"

"James let some Prefects do it. It wasn't even his idea," said Marlene.

"Okay, that's good… when's the deadline?"  
Alice and Marlene both shrugged. "No idea," said Alice.

Lily stood up. "Well, I'd better hurry then, hadn't I? But I need to speak to James first—ask if he's already put our names down…"

"I'll go with you," volunteered Alice. She cast a furtive glance at Marlene and her trunk. Turning back to Lily, "I know where the Prefects are, after all."

So they set off. Lily found James in the Common Room downstairs.

"Hi," she said a little nervously; she had not forgotten the encounter with Snape.

"Lily," smiled James happily as she approached him "I've got a question for you."

"Oh," said Lily. She did not know what to say. What was she _supposed_ to say?

"Would you like to go to the Ball with me?"

There was a knot in Lily's throat. Looking up at him, she saw James' radiant beam—he probably had no doubt that Lily would say yes.

"James, I—I would love to go to the Ball with you," she began, again nerves creeping up. She knew that despite Marlene's plan she should tell James. "B—"

"Let's go Lily," interrupted Alice sharply. "C'mon."

"Fantastic!" grinned James. He planted a kiss on Lily's lips.

Alice tugged at Lily's arm, pulling her away until James was out of sight. "Are you mad, Lils? When we worked out a way not to tell him you just want to start telling him anyway!"

Lily looked guilty. "It's not right. He has a right to know the truth. I hate lying, especially to him. It's like… even though we are so close, there's this invisible barrier between us."

Alice raised her eyebrows, and they kept on walking. Once they'd reached the corridor leading to the library, though, they stopped. There they found a girl, who seemed to smirking and looking smug about something, behind a table-cum-desk packing up a stack of parchment. Lily recognised her as a fellow Prefect, though she did not know the girl's name.

"Hi there," greeted Alice, "we've come to register some names for the—"

"I'm sorry," said the girls, although she did not look sorry. "The deadline for the list was just under an hour ago."

Lily's jaw dropped. "But I'm Head Girl!" she burst out. "And I haven't signed my name yet!"

"I think you'll find your name is already on the list," objected the girl, pointing to a long piece of parchment in front of her. Lily immediately grabbed it, searching for her name.

"Jacques!" she gasped, aghast. "He put our names down!" She turned to Alice. "Have you got a quill?"

"Not on me, sorry."

The girl snatched the list back. "You have no right to tamper with that. It's for administrative purposes."

Lily made disbelieving noises.

"Sneer all you like," said the girl, shaking her chestnut locks, "I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, it's your problem." And, having packed up all her things, she turned on her heel and walked off, nose in the air.

**END OF CHAPITRE DIX-NEUF!**

**Please Review!**

_Chapter 20 coming up!..._


	20. Breaking the news

Author's Note: Thanks for reviewing those who have done so… Please review. It would make me very happy. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Twenty: Breaking the news

"Well," said Lily eventually. "I guess I'm going with him then." Her voice cracked; her mouth was dry.

"You wouldn't have to spend the whole evening with him," conceded Alice. She seemed thoughtful. "You could just meet up with him, talk to him a little bit and then go to James and us for the rest of the time."

"Yeah, I'll do that," agreed Lily after a second's thought. She knew it probably wouldn't be worth the trouble to ask McGonagall whether she could edit—modify, she could say—the list, or take it from the girl. After all, Alice was right; Lily could easily spend the entire time with who she wanted, though it would mean she was not officially James' date and would have to spend a little time with Jacques. Still, it could be worse… it wasn't as if she was torn between the two…

AS they made their way to return to Gryffindor Tower, Lil knew she was now obliged to tell James everything. She hoped he would understand—or try to, at least—and forgive her. She did not want for him to distrust her; she had, after all, not done anything _wrong _as such. Not anything that could be classed as betrayal, anyway. Oh, why did it all have to be so difficult?!

Before she knew it, she and Alice were back in the Common Room, James and Sirius both there, talking and lazily playing a game of wizard's chess.

"James," she said quietly. "There's something I have to tell you."

So she did.

-xXx-

James had known that something wasn't quite right when Lily came back from her trip. She had tried to tell him something, but it had never come. Not until now. He could tell by Lily's anxious expression that it was not good news that she was delivering. Still, he had not expected this.

He wasn't angry, not really. Disappointed. Jealous. Bitter, even. But not angry. He knew that Lily didn't really want things to turn out like this—to go with her ex, Jacques. He knew that Lily didn't love Jacques any more, that she liked him, James, now. Maybe even loved him. He knew, in short, that she was faithful to him. Not that he had ever doubted it. That was one of the things about Lily: he could trust her completely. And not only that but he could make a fool of himself and she wouldn't laugh at him. Perhaps _with_ him… but not _at_ him. Although, now he thought about it, he couldn't think of a time when Lily had _ever_ laughed at anyone. But that was Lily: honest, pure. Or, at least, a side of Lily. She wasn't like that all the time, as James well knew. Distant memories reminded him of the time when Lily still hated him. He hated those memories just as much as he had hated it at the time. Sure, he'd dated other girls. He'd had good times, fun times, with girls that other guys would kill for. But none of them—and there were a lot—were what he was looking for. Because the only one that would fill that gap in his life was Lily.

He'd fallen in love with her on their first day at Hogwarts. She'd been beautiful even then, and the fact that she and she alone was able to resist him made her ten times more desirable. Only it wasn't just desire—it was something else, deeper. James admired her; she was a strong person. _Not strong enough to say no to Jacques,_ said a nagging voice in James' head. _She didn't resist _him_… she didn't say no…_

As for that, it was all messed up. Dammit, Lily… why couldn't she have just said 'no'? Surely it couldn't have been that difficult… and even afterwards she could've done something about it… tried to fix it…

Unless she didn't want to… was it intentional? Did she _mean_ to go to the Ball with the French freak? Conveniently leaving James partnerless? He was certain she wouldn't have done that, been that heartless… but then, the old Lily could have done something like that. The old Lily… that James despised so much, yet at the same time loved beyond belief. It was, after all, the side of her that he'd fallen in love with… the Lily he was now dating seemed very different…

"What am I thinking?" groaned James aloud. He buried his head in his arms. He was sitting on a chair in the Gryffindor Common Room and was slumped over the table next to it. Suddenly, he heard quiet footsteps.

"James?" whispered Lily as she drew up a chair next to him. "Are you okay?"

He looked up, and their eyes met. Slowly he nodded, before resuming his previous position.

"James," whispered Lily again. She leaned closer to him and placed a hand on his arm. She was cold. With her other hand she stroked his hair, gently caressing it. "Come with me."

He looked up again. "What are you saying?"

Lily was looking deep into his eyes. "I need to talk to you. Come, let's go to Heads' Common Room." She stood up, and James followed suit. Fingers linked, Lily led him out and to the Heads' Common Room. When they arrived there, she sat down on one of the wooden chairs.

"Look, James," she began tentatively. "I'm sorry."

"There's no reason to be."

"Yeah, there is… about the whole Ball thing. I thought… well, I don't know. I _wasn't_ thinking. And I realised… you must be upset about it. I mean, after all, I should've told you before. Or rather, not let things get so out of hand. And I thought that you'd be pretty angry about it at first, and you wouldn't want to see me. So… later, when you would have calmed down—that is, now—I could just apologise and… make it up to you." She allowed herself to breathe, as if she had been holding her breath. Slowly she met James' steady gaze.

"Lily," he whispered. "It's OK. I understand. I know that this must be difficult for you too. C'mon, I have an idea. Let's go outside."

"Outside," echoed Lily. "Right."

"For a walk."

"And we won't get caught how?"

James tapped the side of his nose. "Easy," he smiled.

Ten minutes later, the couple were comfortable hidden by James' Invisibility Cloak while strolling along the long grass surrounding the castle.

"So _this_ is how you've been able to get around, playing pranks, without being caught!" muttered Lily. She shook her head. "I wondered."

James smiled. "I knew you wouldn't be able to figure this one out," he grinned, "maybe Moony, but not—"

"Moony?" repeated Lily sharply. "Remus?"

"Yeah, well, you know…"

Lily went quiet for a moment, immersed in her thoughts. A second later she snapped out of it. "He was right."

"What? Who?"

"Snape," said Lily, and James flinched. "He knows. James, I wouldn't trust him not to say anything."

He gripped her hand. "I know he knows. And by the sound of things, he's already told."

Lily stepped closer to him; for some reason she suddenly felt very cold.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it," James uttered soothingly, and she looked up at him with a tender smile upon her face. "Good thing the snow's melted, huh?" he said, looking at the wet grass surrounding them, "or else we would have had to use some charms to cover up our footprints."

Lily nodded in agreement. As they continued to walk in silence, though, the sound of hushed voices became clearer. Lily stopped abruptly, bringing James to a halt too. In the dim moonlight they could only just make out the two figures deep in conversation. They could not hear much, except a few words here and there—"Ball", "Christmas", "Firewhisky", "idea"… and Lily thought she even heard "plan" but that couldn't have been it; maybe she misheard "pan". But whatever they were talking about, she felt it was wrong to listen in. Clutching James' hand, she whispered, "Let's go back," in his ear. Tense, the couple made their way back quietly, each buried in their separate thoughts.

**END OF CHAPITRE VINGT!**

_End of Chapter 20!_

**Please REVIEW!**

…it would mean a lot to me…

thanks for reading anyways!

_Chapter 21 is nearly done already!_


	21. Great expectations

Author's Note: Thanks for reviewing those who have done so… Please review. It would make me very happy. :) Oh and just so you're all warned, this story is going to go through a dark phase (LOL) but it's going to be well good, so keep reading! P.S. I was going to type this up sooner, but I've been away twice in the last fortnight. Sowwy. Oh and a last thing: contains references of "adult' matters, lol. X

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that. Blah.

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Twenty-One: Great Expectations

It was Christmas Eve. Emotions were running high, as the largely awaited Ball was to be held the next day. All throughout the school, girls were beginning to get excited and boys were anticipating having to dance with their partners. The teachers seemed to be looking forward to it being over and done with. And the house elves were thrilled to have things to do.

One person that was particularly ecstatic at the prospect of this ball was a Prefect, a girl named Sonia. She knew that not everything was as it seemed, and that the Ball itself offered many of its own prospects. Being the opportunist she was, she was determined not to let these… _opportunities_ pass. She was also determined to get her own way, whatever it took. And if it took a lot, then so be it.

-xXx-

Many miles away, somebody else was also greatly looking forward tro the Hogwarts Christmas Ball. If everything went according to plan, he would possess something that he yearned for. And he always got what he wanted. It was just the way he operated. Not that he would be the one that actually took it… he was more tactful than that… and, after all, that was what the boy was for… Still, they would have to be careful. He had not yet obtained the power he wanted, _needed,_ and was not prepared to lose what he had. Once he had the Cloak, though, things would be different… it would be a great asset to him…

That was the thing about having so many young followers; it meant he had spies planted everywhere… as well as the fact that they could influence their peers, doubling numbers…

Yes, the Dark Lord was indeed on the rise to power. Indescribable power.

-xXx-

It was another sleepless night for both Lily Evans and James Potter. Whilst Lily lay awake in her dormitory bed, James was pacing his own dormitory. He was confused, puzzled, bewildered—any adjective that describes the mixed up feelings he felt raging inside him. He had not intended to dwell on them, but he simply could not forget everything that had been going on recently. The encounter with Snape, the intruding of a clandestine conversation, the fact that Lily was not going to the Ball with him—like, what was _that_ about?—and the feeling that something, something was not quite right… Plus, to top it all off, Sirius had told James that he was going to break up with Marlene. This affected James more than he would have thought; Marlene was after all, Lily's best friend. Suddenly James felt a surge of anger. It was not right that Sirius was dumping these girls just out of blue, purely for the reason that he had got bored of them. With a pang James realised that only a year ago, he would have fitted that description… But no. He was no longer like that. He had changed, hadn't he? And he had been dating Lily for a few months now… Still, it was unfair. Marlene was under the impression that Sirius was smitten with her. And when was he planning to do it? James knew that Marlene and Sirius were going to the Ball together, surely it wouldn't be then? James thought Sirius ought to do it soon, as the after-Ball party they had been planning would involve large amounts of alcohol, and if they weren't careful something could happen that wasn't intentional. In fact, James could probably count on Sirius to have sex with a girl even if he wasn't drunk. At least he, James, was not like his friend in that respect. On the contrary, he had quite a clean record. He laughed softly to himself. Nobody at school would suspect that James potter, one of the Marauders and best mates with the notorious Sirius Black, was a virgin. But then again, there was a lot about him that was kept secret.

**END OF CHAPITRE VINGT-ET-UN!**

_Chapters 22 and 23 are already written…_

_They just need typing up._



_PLEASE REVIEW!! xx_


	22. The night everything changed

Author's Note: Hey there! It's mee! And yes, the Ball starts this chapter! May I remind you that YOU SHOULD REVIEW BECAUSE THIS IS A FABBY STORY YES!! Oh and, this story is dedicated to all my avid readers/reviewers, in particular to those who say lots of prettyful things (and mean them).  xx P.S. there is a long description of the ball gowns and stuff, sorry if it bores you. I just really wanted to capture the moment. But apart from that passage, _everything_ has a significance. Everything.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that. Blah. :P

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Twenty-Two: The night everything changed

Presents. Excitement. Laughter. Preparations. Giving. Receiving. Yep, it was Christmas Day at Hogwarts. It also happened to be the day of the Ball, which certainly added to the cheerful atmosphere throughout the large stone castle. In fact, the Ball seemed to take up a lot of the time, as many students began to get ready for it mid-afternoon. This meant that when evening came, when the sky was dark and music had begun to play in the highly and wonderfully decorated Great Hall, students were already beginning to crowd around. All dressed in different colours, some bright and some dull, in formal attire, this seemed very unusual. Despite this, people were making themselves at home, chatting and laughing with their friends. Sharing jokes, even, in the Marauders' cases.

"Knock, knock," said Peter.

"Who's there?" asked Remus dryly.

"Mary."

"Mary who?" James butted in.

"Mary Christmas!"

Usually James would groan at the pathetic punch line but tonight he just grinned. He was determined to have a good time. Hopefully in his smart burgundy dress robes Lily would think him the perfect gentleman. (Well not perfect exactly. But close to it.) Lily wasn't there yet—presumable still getting ready, along with the other girls. In the corner of his eye, James could see Frank anxiously waiting for Alice. They—the Marauders and Frank—had been waiting in the Great Hall together for quite some time now. How long would the girls take?_ Women,_ thought James, slightly amused.

"Oh look, there they are." Sirius motioned towards the marble staircase, which Alice, Lily and Marlene were descending.

They were almost unrecognisable. Alice was wearing her pearly blue strapless dress, her brown hair in a loose bun at the back of her head. Marlene looked equally stunning in a simple scarlet red dress (though rather low-cut) with her curly strawberry-blonde locks loose. Lily, however, looked the best—in James' opinion, anyway. Wearing an emerald velvet halter-neck dress that swept the floor, she looked tall and graceful. Her red hair, normally straight, was curled and in ringlets. Her eyes stood out more than ever, a brilliant green; she was wearing a green glitter eye-shadow. To James, she radiated beauty.

James, whose jaw was dropped, pushed aside anybody in his way as he strode through the crowd towards her. "Lily!" he said breathlessly, grabbing her in his arms.

"James," she replied, half-surprised, half-amused.

"Guys," snorted Sirius, rolling his eyes. He had made his way through the crowd too, to meet Marlene. "Hey," he smiled as he approached her. He kissed her on the cheek. "You look beautiful."

"You're not too bad yourself," she murmured as she kissed him back.

"Want to go somewhere more private?" asked Sirius as he spotted Professor McGonagall by the doors to the Great Hall.

"I—well—sure," Marlene replied. She looked a bit flustered. Nevertheless, Sirius took her hand and they disappeared from the Great Hall.

"So," said James to Lily after their friends had vanished from sight, "what have you got lined up for this evening?"

"Hmm… if that's an offer I'll pencil you in for the last dance," she smiled in reply.

"Only the last?" James pretended to look offended.

"Maybe I could fit you in somewhere else as well… another, faster dance?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Better had."

"'Ello, Lily, you are looking _tres belle _tonight," came a voice from behind the couple. Looking round, they saw Jacques standing tall in indigo dress robes. "I 'ope you 'ave not forgotten weez whom you are going to ze Ball tonight weez!"

"No, I haven't," responded Lily with a forced, tight-lipped, half-smile.

"Zat ees very good. Do you vant to dance?"

Lily looked at James. "Actually, I—"

James shrugged. "You go, Lils. It's okay with me. We've been through this, remember?"

She nodded and turned to Jacques before taking his hand. Soon they were gone, hidden from view by the dancing throng. James just stood and watched, until a girl with chestnut hair, wearing a bright blue dress, sidled up to him. "Hey," she smiled seductively. "You look a bit… lost."

James laughed mirthlessly. "Do I?"

"Yeah… are you alright?"

He contemplated the question for a bit, before replying. "I'm thirsty."

The girl looked at him with wide blue eyes. "Let me get you a drink. Mulled wine?"

James was watching Lily and Jacques dance broodingly. "Stronger," he said. "Firewhisky."

The girl turned to go, but James put a hand on her arm and she froze. "Wait," he said. "First, what's your name?"

"Sonia."

"Sonia… oh yes, Sonia… Rambrick, isn't it, we were partners in Herbolody one time."

_He remembered!_ "Yeah," said Sonia, and she went to get drinks.

"Who's that?" asked Remus as he approached James.

"No-one."

"I hope you aren't planning on cheating on Lily."

"I'm not. Why would I want to cheat on her?" James eyes were still focussed intensely upon the two, dancing and talking. Remus ignored his question. "Just don't, okay?"

James rolled his eyes. With a high note the song ended and Lily made her way towards him. At the same time, so did Sonia.

"Hey," they said in unison. They stared at each other.

"Here's your drink, James," said Sonia loudly as she handed him a goblet. "Are you sure you're OK?"

James could feel Lily's eyes upon him. "Yeah."

"Can I talk to him in private please?" Lily demanded pointedly in a tone as loud as Sonia's had been. Without bothering to wait for a reply, she dragged James away. "Hi."

"Lily, what's going on?"

"You tell me. It's that snobby little brat of a Prefect that wouldn't let me change the list!" snarled Lily in Sonia's direction. "I swear she could have set the thing up…"

"What do you mean?"

"Wait a minute! She could have planned the entire thing! It could have been her that suggested the list to you! Was it?"

"Lily, I—"

"Was it?"

"It could have been, I'm not sure. But what are you on about?"

Lily stopped. She shook her head. "I don't know. I'm just being a bit paranoid."

"Yeah, you are. Don't worry about it."

"I'm not."

"You are. C'mon, relax… do you want some of my drink?"

Lily nodded and took a sip from the goblet. "Ooh, that's nice."

"Have all of it," James said—but too late, Lily had already drained the glass.

"Tonight is going to be the best night of my life," she announced.

But it turned out to be exactly the opposite.

**LE FINIS DE CHAPITRE VINGT-ET-DEUX! **

**J'éspere que tous vous avez ce aimé!**

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO!

I hope you all liked it!

Lots more to come!!

_Read on… and REVIEW!_

_**Thanks!**_


	23. Counting kisses

Author's Note: READ **READ** READ THIS IS A VITAL, I REPEAT VITAL CHAPTER! Lol, but it's true! Oh and **don't forget to review!** xx

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that. Blah. :P

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Twenty-Three: Counting kisses

"Where's James?"

"Gone to get me some more drinks. Where's Marlene?"

"Same."

Lily nodded absent-mindedly. "So," she said to Sirius. "What have you been up to?"

"Kissing," he grinned. "My, she's a good kisser."

Lily nodded absent-mindedly again. Then she turned her attention to Sirius. "How do you know if somebody's a good kisser?" she asked, curiously.

"You can just tell. Also, the good kisses stand out from the bad kisses."

"I guess it's more obvious for you," Lily thought aloud, "seeing as you've kissed loads of people."

Sirius laughed. "Everyone you know, anyway."

Lily paused. "Not Alice."

Sirius nodded. "Yes Alice. I've kissed every girl in your dorm—apart from you."

"When?" gasped Lily.

"Don't worry, it was way before she started going out with Frank."

"Good. Still… I didn't know that."

He shrugged. "So, how many guys have you kissed? Or is it just James?"

Lily glared at him. "Of course it's not _just _James. There's Jacques… and Ollie…"

"Who?"

"Oliver Parks. A family friend. We would have made a great couple. 'Course, the only kiss we had was a goodbye kiss."

"What happened?"

"He moved away to Switzerland. God, I can't believe that happened to me _twice._ First him, then Jacques… But I guess that's a good thing, because I've got James now."

"You've only ever kissed three guys?"

"Four," Lily corrected him.

Sirius stared at her. "Ollie, Jacques, James. That makes three. Jeez, I thought you were smart."

"I only just remembered one."

"Who is it?"

"Sev."

"What?"

"Sev—Severus Snape. Snivellus."

Sirius gasped in horror. "No…no way…"

"Ages ago. Just one kiss. Nothing else. Years ago."

"Even so…" Sirius could not seem to get over this shocking information.

Meanwhile, Marlene was trying to process some shocking information herself.

"See, I had to tell you before anything happens… it's not fair that he keeps leading you on," finished James lamely. "Look, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," replied Marlene. "I'm glad you told me, it's better this way. I should've known it, though. I should have seen it coming. He got what he wanted and now he's moving on."

"You…?"

Marlene nodded gravely. She was white as a sheet. "Yeah, we… did it. Last week when everybody was in France." She closed her eyes. "God. I should have known. I can't believe I fell for it. I mean, it's Sirius effing Black! What was I thinking, that he'd change his ways for me or something?"

"You weren't to know," James consoled her. "After all, he might have changed. Look at me—I changed for Lily."

"But you're different. You were totally hung up on Lily. You _are_ totally hung up on Lily. Sirius, though… I think our relationship is the longest he's ever been in and it hasn't even lasted that long."

"Well there you go—he did change his standards for you, sort of."

"I guess… I don't know. I just thought we really had something special. Probably every girlfriend he's had thought that too. But it's different…" Tears were streaming down Marlene's cheeks.

"Oh, Marlene, don't be upset… here." James pulled her into a bear hug. "Ssh… it's going to be alright…"

"It's not, though," sobbed Marlene, "it's not!"

-xXx-

"Lily! Zere you are!" Jacques' voice cut through Lily and Sirius' hushed conversation.

"Err—hi."

"Do you vant to come outside weez me? Ze sky ees _incroyable_. Incredible."

Lily shook her head in the most apologetic manner she could muster. "Sorry, but I'm just talking to Sirius here."

Jacques smiled. "Well find me when you two are feenished weez talking. After all, we 'ave only danced togezzer vonce!" And he went away.

"What's he on about?" Sirius muttered, confused. "Nutter."

"Oh, it's because we've only danced rogether once," replied Lily.

Sirius looked even more confused. "And you should have danced with him more than once because…?"

"Well, it's standard isn't it?" Lily herself was beginning to feel confused. "You're supposed to dance with your date more than once."

"_What?!?"_

"Aren't you supposed to?"

"_Jacques_ is your date?!"

Lily looked at him strangely. "Didn't you know?"

"No!!"

"Well… yeah."

Sirius just stared at her as if she was a lunatic. "Why?"

"What?"

"Why are you going to the Ball with him?"

"What's wrong—"

"You are wrong!" yelled Sirius. "That was totally wrong of you!"

"Sirius, I—"

"You can't go to the Ball without your boyfriend, just because of some stupid French twat!" he roared angrily at her. But being the fiery redhead she was, she wasn't about to let him shout at her.

"Well I believe I just have! Anyway, I didn't mean to! Besides, look at yourself Sirius—you're despicable! Marlene's the only girl you've had a proper relationship with, and how long is that going to last? You've left a trail of broken hearts! All those girls you've kissed—haven't you at any time even stopped to think about what you were _doing_?!" Lily yelled back, equally angry.

"So? That's no excuse for dumping James—who's my best mate in case you've forgotten—for some old reject who fancied you over two years ago!"

"You don't understand! You're not even trying to! Besides, it's not like I intended on bringing Jacques to the Ball with me!" she shouted, almost hysterically. She was close to tears.

"Why, just decided to on impulse? Just thought, yeah, this guy will do for the job tonight, did you? Well you can get over yourself Lily! Dumping—"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE I DIDN'T DUMP HIM SIRIUS! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"But bringing old Jackie into it is just out of the—"

"Why, you'd rather I brought someone else along instead?" spat Lily viciously.

Furious, Sirius stepped closer so that there was less than an inch between them. "Lily, what you did was wrong. Have you any idea how James must be feeling--!"

Lily squared up as tall as her high heels would let her. "For your information, I do. I've talked to James about it—"

"And that makes it alright does it?"

"—and I do understand! I'm the only one that understands! I'm the only one with feelings here—"

"That's not true!"

"Well it seems like it to me!"

Sirius' voice was a dangerous whisper when he said, "Lily, you should know things aren't always what they seem."

They were close to each other, too close, and before they knew what was happening their lips met in a fierce kiss. Sizzling and passionate, their lips were set ablaze. This continued for what must have been an age, they could not appear to be able to stop kissing each other, until they broke away at the sight of two people watching them, shocked.

James and Marlene.

_(End of Chapter Twenty-Three!)_

_Hope you liked it. Please do review,_

_xx_


	24. Fight

Author's Note: Again, READ **READ** READ THIS IS A VITAL, I REPEAT VITAL CHAPTER! Lol, but it's true! Oh and **don't forget to review!** Xx Also, I would appreciate it a lot if you put me on "Favourite Authors" as well as 'Author Alert". It will make me feel special. giggles Oh, and I repeat that practically EVERYTHING has a significance ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that. Blah. :P

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Twenty-Four: Fight

"Lily? _Sirius?_" croaked James hoarsely. "What are you doing?"

"I—we—we weren't… it's just..."

"Just what?" interrupted Marlene. The tears she had cried earlier had dried but her eyes sparkled with fresh ones. However, most of her sorrow had turned to anger. She strode forwards to Lily. "Normally I'd tell you to get off my boyfriend, but in this case I think you two are perfect for each other. I hope you're happy." Her voice was quivery; she was shaking all over. Turning on her heel, she stalked off in what she hoped to appear a cool manner despite feeling as if she was going to scream.

"Sirius?' James repeated, weakly.

"James, I—I'm sorry, I really am, it's just…"

"How could you _do_ this to me?"

"Look, it shouldn't have happened. It wasn't supposed to happen… I'm sorry, it's not right—"

"No it's not." James' voice was scary. Lily had never seen him so angry before.

"I'm sorry, mate, it's—"

"Don't call me that." He was furious. Livid. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. His teeth were gritted, partly because he didn't want to shout out and partly because his body shook so much that his teeth would chatter. Sirius put a hand on his shoulder.

"James, I—"

James, rigid, was not taking it. "Get off me!"

"No seriously—James, I _am _sorry, believe—"

"_Get. Off. Me."_

"Mate, I—"

Sirius was interrupted mid sentence as James sent a puch to his jaw and the _crack! _of jaw meeting fist was deafening.

Sirius put a hand to his jaw. "Holy shit!" he gasped as blood started to appear on his hand.

"James!" screamed Lily desperately. She had been watching him and Sirius, horrified and terrified, but only now dared she say anything. Too late, though—James had issued another punch, this time to Sirius' chest. He buckled over in pain.

"Stop it!" screamed Lily. She felt helpless, she didn't dare run for help as it looked like things could get much worse in her absence. Yet she couldn't just stay and watch stupidly either, could she?!

Sirius ignored her and squared up to James best as he could with the pain he was enduring. Before he could do anything, however, James began to speak.

"You know what I was doing when you were kissing my girlfriend?" he spat. "I was comforting yours because you're going to dump her—"

"What?!" Lily was shocked.

"—and there you are, practically already done it! And if that's not enough, you decide to make a move on Lily. You're sick!"

A fist flying through the air, a strangled cry and a yell of pain; moments later James was lying on the floor. Immediately Lily rushed over to him. She bent down.

"James?" she whispered desperately. "James are you OK? Can you hear me? James? Say something!"

"Move, Lily," came a new voice. It was Remus. He too bent down to see his friend. James mumbled something. Eyes wide and glistening, Lily leaned in to hear.

"Kill… Sirius," James muttered. His anger was, apparently, still present.

"No," objected Remus calmly.

"Yes," groaned James. Blood seemed to be coming out of his mouth. "Moony, he kissed… Lily…"

"I know," Remus stated, calmly as before. He turned to Lily. "Go to Gryffindor Tower, McGonagall's there, she was breaking up the post-Ball party before it's even started, I saw her there a minute ago. Get her to come here."

With a nod Lily went and sprinted off to Gryffindor Tower. "_Mistletoe!"_ she cried to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who swung forwards to admit her. Looking around the Common Room, nobody seemed to be there. It was silent—except Lily was sure she heard something coming from the girls' dorm. Running up there, the noise grew louder; muffled sobs. She burst in, to find Alice and McGonagall there, both looking extremely grave, with a devastated Marlene who was crying. Lily could not have felt more guilty.

"Professor—McGonagall," she panted, "there's been—a fight. By—the Great Hall. James—he's looking… not well. He's—bleeding…"

McGonagall stood up at once. "I understand. Thank you for coming to me Miss Evans. May I suggest you stay here with your friends and try not to get any more tangled up with the mayhem." With a flourish of her navy dress, she left.

"Go away," said Alice sharply the moment the teacher exited the room.

"I—"

"Haven't you already done enough damage tonight? Can't you see what a state she's in?" Alice looked directly at Lily before glancing at Marlene. "Go away."

Lily did not want to argue. Instead, she turned around and went out. Once she had closed the door she could feel a tear making its way down her cheek. She descended into the Common Room, where she sank into an armchair and listened to Marlene's cried. What had she done? She had ruined everything. It was all totally, totally _wrong._

Before she could contemplate this any further, though, the portrait swung open again, this time letting Remus enter. As he stepped through, he spotted Lily and went up to her.

"Lily, are you alright?"

She shrugged silently in reply, but did not look at him.

"I know what happened."

This time she did look at him, her bright green eyes wide and wet with tears. "I—I didn't mean to. It—shouldn't have happened. I don't know what went wrong. And now—look what I've done."

Remus was watching her closely. "Lily, it's OK. Look, I'm not saying you should have kissed Sirius. Or agreed to go to the Ball with Jacques. But it's not all your fault."

"It is, though, it is! I've messed up _everything_!"

"No, you haven't. C'mon, let's get some fresh air, get away from this stuffiness. And no, don't worry, it's not full moon."

Lily looked up at him. "How did you—"

Remus shrugged. "I know you knew. Snape's told you enough times and, if I'm not mistaken, James confirmed it. So come; I don't think I can stand being inside her much longer."

They made their way outside, talking. Remus told Lily what had been happening in Gryffindor Tower whilst she and Sirius had been—well, when she wasn't there.

"So terry Jones threw a Dungbomb at Peter, and of course McGonagall knew—she got dead cross at him, confiscated all his stuff. And then Snape skidded in—so McGonagall got mad at _him_ for being there when it was Gryffindor Tower—"

"What was he doing there?"

Remus looked like he had just remembered something. "Actually, he was looking for you. Wanted to tell you something. Urgent, apparently."

"Oh."

"Sorry, I should have told you sooner, I just completely forgot about it."

They stepped through the door to the grounds. It was icy cold and Lily instantly began to shiver; she was not wearing over her dress. "It's okay, I understand," she said, teeth chattering slightly.

"Here, have my coat," offered Remus. He had grabbed his jacket on the way out from the Common Room.

"No," responded Lily abruptly. "I mean, er, no thanks. The last time I took somebody's coat I ended up agreeing to something I wouldn't have dreamt of before." In her mind's eye she could picture the scene in which she had agreed to attend the Ball with Jacques. She gave an involuntary shudder.

"At least let me keep you warm somehow," said Remus, and he put his arm around the shivering Lily. Immediately she felt a lot safer and it was not altogether uncomfortable, as she knew her friendship with Remus was entirely platonic. This made her think once more of what had happened with Sirius.

"Oh God, I can't believe I did that!" she moaned miserably. "Poor James, he's going to think I don't love him any more! I can't—"

"So you do?"

"I—what?"

"You do love him?"

Lily pondered on this. "You know, I've wondered about that over and over again and… I'm not sure. I don't know."

"Well you just kind of said you did… maybe this means that you do?"

She sighed. "I don't know." It's like… I want to be able to say I do, but deep down—"

"Or it could be the other way round."

"What do you mean?"

"What I'm saying," began Remus matter-of-factly, "is that perhaps you do love James. A lot. But you don't want to admit it. Because… to you, it seems like you're resigning yourself to, I dunno, a fate. Losing your independence, everything you've ever stood for, because you hated James for all those years before you eventually started going out. To you, admitting you love him would be like someone saying 'I told you so'. Like James getting what he wants. Like losing a bet, because you swore you would never go out with him. And you've already lost that bet, so all you've got to cling onto now is the though that you don't actually love him."

Lily gaped at him with a mixture of amazement and incredulity. She was speechless for a moment. "You are brilliant," she finally concluded. "Brutal, but brilliant. You're right, I guess. You know, that probably was why I didn't start talking to him like he was actually a real person before. My pride."

There was a noise behind them, rustling. Quickly they both spun round to see what it was—but too late. One second later Remus was lying eagle-spread on the snow, body crumpled.

And that's when everything went black.

**END OF CHAPITRE VINGT-ET-QUATRE! **

Whoops if I spelt that wrong!

_Read on & __**Review**_

_xx_


	25. Dark skies above

Author's Note: This is one of those chapters that when you read it, or you read a certain part, you go "Ohmigod why didn't I work that out before?!" because as I said, nearly everything has a significance. Oh and I think this chapter will answer most of your questions. Thanks for reviewing to those who have done so, review if you haven't already and if you have REVIEW ANYWAY! xx

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that. Blah. :P

**Love or Hate:**

**The Tale of Red Snitch**

Chapter Twenty-Five: Dark skies above

"So what are you going to do about it?" asked Terry Jones. "Are you going to dump her?"

James, whose head was in his hands, groaned. "I don't know. I don't really want to. But I kind of can't _not… _aargh. I'll just go along with whatever. See how it goes."

"But you don't want to keep changing tack," interjected Frank. "Best have one idea about what you're going to do and stick to it."

This was not sounding promising to James, who was already dreading seeing Lily again. He knew he wouldn't bear a grudge against her, but he also knew that he couldn't forgive her straightaway. Honestly, he had been hurt. _Deeply_ hurt. Betrayed by both somebody he believed to be his best friend, and his girlfriend—at the same time. It was a real, living, nightmare. And it was made worse by the fact that he was stuck here in the Hospital Wing with a bleeding lip and broken rib. He was very glad Lily couldn't see him now. Still, at least she'd been loyal to him when he fought Sirius, that he would keep in mind. It was not as if—

"James?"

He was quickly brought out of his reverie by this, along with the fact that somebody seemed to be nudging him; he looked around wildly to find that Tery, Peter and Frank were all staring at him. Frank indicated he look at the entrance of the Hospital Wing—where Severus Snape was standing, looking rather bedraggled.

"So, do you know where she is?" asked Snape hesitantly.

"Who?"

"Li—I mean, Evans. Evans."

"I've no idea, why?"

"It's really important. I need to tell her something. It's urgent."

James narrowed his eyes at his rival suspiciously. "What are you up to?" he demanded. 'Why do you want her and what are you going to do with her?"

"All I want is to tell her something. It's not me that wants to do something to her." Snape glared at him.

"Who is it? Why?"

"I can't tell you right now. I have to find her before anything else."

"Well what are you waiting for?!" barked James, making him jump. "Go!"

Snape scarpered, apparently not wanting to dwell with the Gryffindor boys in the austere Hospital Wing any longer.

"Do you believe him, James?" asked Peter.

"I don't know," he replied begrudgingly and grimly, "but whatever it is, it's not good."

-xXx-

Meanwhile, the party inside the Great Hall did not seem to be begrudging _or_ grim. In fact, it seemed the opposite—everybody was laughing, dancing and singing along to the music. Somebody had enchanted the candles to change colour every few seconds, from orange to green to red to blue to yellow and so on. A rock band was playing loudly on the 'stage'—the four long House tables pulled together. The band was belting out their words and the crowd were loving it, screaming along to the tune. That meant that when a thoroughly weak-feeling Remus Lupin was trying to get through and find a familiar face, he found himself in a pretty difficult situation. It took him ten whole minutes to push his way through the packed mass of dancing people, and even then he was left dazed, his head swimming. He had acquired a headache that pulsated almost in time to the music. But no, no. He must not lose focus.

As he reached the other side of the Great Hall he realised that nobody he was looking for was here. His heart raced as he decided where to go first: Hospital Wing or Gryffindor Tower? He knew that he could get to the Tower quickly, if he ran…

The next thing he knew, he skidded round the corner to the entrance to Gryffindor Tower only just avoiding an almighty crash. "_Mistletoe!_" he shrieked to the Fat Lady, who was asleep in her portrait. She did not move.

"Wake, dammit!" he yelled to the portrait. "This is an emergency! MOVE!"

The Fat Lady awoke at this noise. "What's the password?" she asked.

"_Mistletoe, I already said!!_" shouted Remus.

"Alright, alright," muttered the Fat Lady grumpily, as she swung open.

Immediately he clambered inside. To his horror, nobody seemed to be there. "ALICE! MARLENE!" he roared, loud as he could. Soon the two girls appeared at the top of the staircase.

"Remus!!" said Alice, surprised. "What's up? Why are you calling us?"

"Come down and I'll tell you the whole story!"

The girls hurried down.

"Listen," he started, breathing fast, "we don't have much time. Lily's gone, she's been taken. If we don't scene fast then… I dunno, but we can't afford to—"

"Who?"

"_We can't afford to waste time!_" snarled Remus. "Look, what happened was this…"

And he told them.

-xXx-

Lily was shivering uncontrollably. The icy December air was biting into her and she was surrounded by the cruel snow she's watched fall earlier. The skies above were dark so she couldn't see a thing either. And yet, she couldn't do anything about it. She was stuck, victimised, trapped in a situation she couldn't get out of.

She knew they weren't in the school ground any longer. She couldn't even see the castle now, as tress obscured her view of it. What she assumed to be trees, anyway—it was just some dark mass in front of her.

She wanted to scream out, cry out. She couldn't though; she'd been magically bound to silence with _Silencio!_. Not only that, but there was no-one there to hear her. After all, there wasn't going to be many people walking around at midnight on cold snowy mountains on Christmas Day. The only consolation was that she'd been promised they would go back soon, tomorrow even. All she had to do for now was last the night. The next day would be different, very different. There was a plan she would be forced into participating in. And apparently she wouldn't be the one doing very much.

Behind her she could feel her captor's eyes upon her. She didn't dare turn around. Not for fear of being hit, or hexed, but because the last thing she wanted right now was to be reminded of the events of this day. This night, which she had been determined to enjoy and make th best of, had turned into something worse than she could ever have imagined. And therefore something that she could never, ever, forget.

**END OF CHAPITRE VINGT-CINQ!**

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